'Chicago Straight:' Blago, Obama et al

by Mark Silva

Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich "nursed an intense jealousy'' of Barack Obama, the former junior senator from Illinois who won the White House before he was 50, according to an account of "the tangled web of connections'' among the disgraced governor, the president and Obama advisers Rahm Emanuel and David Axelrod.

Read all about this in "Chicago Straight,'' David Bernstein's report in the June issue of Chicago magazine about how the former governor's arrest brought all of this to light.

The magazine reports that, while Obama kept his own distance from Blagojevich, he had been impressed by Blagojevich's political skills, including his fundraising ability.

And while Axelrod was "the main architect'' of Blagojevich's ascension to Congress, Axelrod had declined to serve Blagojevich's gubernatorial campaign, "in part because of misgivings about his maturity and ethics.''

And Emanuel was closer with Blagojevich than with Obama, though the two weren't quite friends. "Emanuel's role in Blago-gate is still somewhat of a mystery,'' the magazine reports. "At the same time that Emanuel was talking with Blagojevich about Obama's vacant Senate seat, he was discussing the status of his own House seat, which he had to give up to become Obama's chief of staff.

And "Blagojevich and Emanuel discussed the possibility of finding a 'seat warmer' -- someone who could temporarily fill the vacancy until Emanuel could reclaim the seat after his stint in the White House.''