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| PRITZKER: Too blunt, or too simple? |
If I
were to trash Pritzker for his somewhat-insulting analysis (J.B. himself admits
he wasn’t all that diplomatic in his decade-old thoughts), I feel like I’d have
to recall every nitwit who has ever tried to spin my thoughts about politics.
BUT THE
BIT about all of this is the way some officials are trying to make it out as though
they have “exposed” Pritzker for saying something radical and offensive, and
that this now single-handedly trashes his electoral chances come the March 20
primary.
Even though
many of the people spewing such thoughts against Pritzker are also the ones who
have said such things themselves.
This
particular round of political rhetoric was spouted out by the continuing use for
campaign purposes of the recordings the FBI made back in the days when they
were trying to get then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich to say incriminating things on
tape to be used as evidence against him in criminal proceedings.
 |
| WHITE: Did J.B. praise, or denigrate, him? |
As we
all know, Blagojevich is now a convicted felon and still has another six-or-so years
to serve before he can think of returning to his spouse, Patti, and their two
daughters.
DURING
THOSE TALKS, Blagojevich spoke with prominent Democratic financial contributor
Pritzker, and I’m sure the fact it might create the impression amongst the
clueless that Pritzker himself did something illegal pleases the J.B.
opponents.
 |
| JACKSON: Used to have a political future |
But as
for what he said, it was Pritzker suggesting that Illinois Secretary of State
Jesse White was the best possible replacement Blagojevich could pick to fill
the vacancy created when our state’s U.S. senator, Barack Obama, became
president in 2008.
Because
he was not “crass” like then-Illinois Senate President Emil Jones. Besides,
getting White out of the secretary of state’s office would have meant
Blagojevich getting to pick a person who could then fill the mass of jobs
controlled by that office – which does much more than just issue your driver’s
license.
 |
| JONES: Oft-overlooked |
As for
then-Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr., Pritzker made it clear he sympathized with Blagojevich
not wanting the son of Rev. Jesse Jackson to have such a political post – even though
the speculation back in ’08 was that Jackson might be the most-logical person
for the post.
EXCEPT
TO BLAGOJEVICH, who had the ego all outraged that he had been surpassed on a
national sense by Obama and would get dumped on again by Jesse, Jr.
In
short, a lot of this would have been considered stating the incredibly obvious
a decade ago. For all I know, there may be some people who will read such
thoughts coming from Pritzker who will think he’s on to something and may be more
likely to vote for him.
 |
| BLAGOJEVICH: Reliving pol history? |
Personally,
I think some of the thoughts were expressed a little crassly themselves.
But then
again, since when is anybody on our local political scene all that eloquent or
articulate? What about any of this would truly make Pritzker worse?
WE MAY
WANT to fantasize that Obama rose our state’s political sensibilities to a
higher moral plane. But Barack was someone who knew how to make his political accommodations
– he wouldn’t have got elected to the top political post if he hadn’t.
So as
for the people who want us to think they’re now looking out for black people at
large by criticizing Pritzker, I suspect many of them could really care less
about anyone other than themselves.
 |
| How much does it add to White's appeal? |
They’ll
use race if they think it can benefit their own political interests, but then
back away once it no longer serves their purposes.
Besides,
a part of me has always thought that one of White’s political benefits was his
athletic background – a one-time baseball player in the Chicago Cubs organization.
Is that denigrative of the man’s political acumen to bring that point up?
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