Obama clears the air

After some initial hesitation, Barack Obama has addressed allegations that Illinois Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich attempted to sell the U.S. Senate seat Obama vacated after his election as president. The president-elect belatedly realized that he must aggressively assert his own innocence and ventilate even innocuous conversations about the naming of his replacement -- knowing that doing so will embolden partisan critics and conspiracy theorists.

At Thursday’s news conference called to announce the nomination of former South Dakota Sen. Tom Daschle as secretary of Health and Human Services, Obama brought up the Blagojevich scandal before reporters could ask him about it. He reiterated that he hadn’t spoken to Blagojevich about possible successors, said he was “absolutely certain” that no one in his office had had improper dealings with the governor and promised that his staff would compile a record of any contacts between his office and the governor’s office about the Senate vacancy.

Like other Americans, the president-elect was taken aback Tuesday when federal authorities arrested Blagojevich and charged him with what U.S. Atty. Patrick J. Fitzgerald called a corruption “crime spree.” On Wednesday, in response to inquiries, Obama’s spokesman released a statement in which Obama said the governor should resign. It wasn’t until Thursday, however, that he fully recognized that in many Americans’ minds, his own role was at issue, notwithstanding Fitzgerald’s assurance that he was making “no allegations about the president-elect whatsoever.”

Obama is familiar with the paradox that when a politician denies wrongdoing, it will be taken by some as an admission of wrongdoing. And some Republicans wouldn’t mind if some Americans made that leap. In an interview with MSNBC posted Wednesday, Republican National Chairman Robert “Mike” Duncan insinuated that Obama was under a cloud because of the Blagojevich scandal.

“Barack Obama has an opportunity to be a different kind of president,” Duncan said. “As an American, I am outraged.” Reminded by a reporter that there was no evidence of a close relationship between Obama and Blagojevich, Duncan responded: “I’m not sure there was good relationships going on, but there were connections.” Look for other Republicans to recycle the John McCain campaign’s misleading description of Obama as a product of “the corrupt Chicago political machine.”

In an ideal world, Obama wouldn’t have to dignify questions about his involvement in this scandal. In the real world, he must defend himself. He made a good start on Thursday.