Paglia: Nixonian Dark Art Rahm

Who would have thought Camille Paglia would be so naive? But until faced with the Chicago Way, most observers can't quite believe the sleaze and thuggery. I would suggest this is the usual Democrat party playbook at its most crass, but it is essentially the Democrat party all the same.

However, you are quite right to call the controversy over the indictment of buffoonishly sly Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich a "mess." That the normally deft Obama team mishandled its rapid response to it was obvious from the get-go. Obama's first statements about his and his staff's communications with Blagojevich were inadequate at best and misleading at worst. Then there was a second stage of needless blunders when Obama opposed the tarnished Blagojevich's perfectly legal appointment of Roland Burris to fill Obama's vacated Senate seat -- a foolishly hard line that the president-elect inevitably had to reverse.

The usual tranquil transition period between an election and inauguration has certainly been overshadowed by the murky Blagojevich scandal, but I think most reasonable people would give Obama a pass on it. Any new president must learn crisis management the hard way. No evidence to date directly implicates Obama in Blagojevich's follies. But Obama's future chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, the arrogant Chicago scrapper who was reportedly a conduit to the governor, already seems like an albatross who should be thrown overboard as soon as possible. Nobody wants a dawning presidency addicted so soon to stonewalling, casuistry and the Nixonian dark arts of the modified limited hangout.

But Barack Obama chose Rahmbo with the full knowledge if his, shall we say, talents. That is why he chose him, presumably to use him as much against Democrats as the GOP--congressional Democrats, to keep their rampant liberalism in line so The One would be reelected and Dems wouldn't be tossed out in the midterm elections a la Clinton's first term.

What The One didn't bank on was that Rahmbo would be caught on tape negotiating with Blago.