Not So Stupid

Everyone is piling on soon to be former Illinois governor, Rod Blagojevich. Admittedly, this has not been a good week for him.

However, friends and fortune, while helpful, can only get one so far. You need to have some smarts in order to graduate from law school and repeatedly get elected to greater positions of authority. You don't have to be lovable, just smart.

Michael Barone, however, argues that Blagojevich is the "stupidest" (maybe that should read "most stupid" but I digress) governor in the nation. Maybe.

One would think that with a predecessor in jail and being subject to an on going investigation by a U.S. attorney, that Blagojevich would be careful in his dealings. That's what being smart is all about. However, when it comes to venal versus smart, venal wins.

Why? Because Blagojevich isn't a novice to the ways of Chicago politics. Sure, he's seen plenty of guys going down -- but obviously he has seen as many politicos getting away with it as well. He probably thought he had a better than 50% chance of making a big score. (I won't repeat what he said about his once in a lifetime opportunity to select the next Senator of Illinois.) He's been around long enough -- he knew what he could get away with. Moreover, he was confident that someone would take the bait and actually pay for the seat. (It takes two to tango after all.)

Further, and this is all guesswork on my part, he's learned enough over time to turn his hard landing into something incredible soft. I can see that Plan B involves copping a plea -- which is likely to mix some fact with fiction -- that will eliminate or lessen his time in the joint. (If he drops Obama's name -- rightly or wrongly -- that's going to be one ugly can of worms.)

Blagojevich isn't going to be winning any MacArthur Genius awards anytime soon -- after all he's a 52 year old who dyes his hair and thinks that nobody notices. But he probably knows what he can get away with.

He will not go quietly into the night.

UPDATE: Someone else is just as cynical as me.