If any of Barack Obama’s aides talked to Rod Blagojevich about the Senate seat the president-elect left open, we may be about to find out who it was, and what was said. And that’s a lot better than we’ve been used to over the last few years.
At an appearance moments ago to announce his healthcare team, Obama led off by telling reporters that he has asked his team to gather the facts about contacts with the governor on the subject. “What I want to do is to gather all the facts about any staff contacts that may have taken place” between the governor’s office and the transition team, he said. In response to a question, he added that he would present the findings publicly in the next few days.
But Obama said he is “absolutely certain” that if such contacts took place between his team and the governor’s office, they would not have included discussion of any kind of “deal” for the seat.
Obama also repeated that he himself never spoke to the governor about the seat. “I did not speak to the governor about these issues,” he added.
It’s worth noting that Obama’s pledge to canvass his staff and present what he’s found stands in contrast to the approach taken by President Bush after news reports suggested that a member of his team had improperly leaked the name of a covert CIA operative. Bush at first pledged to get to the bottom of the matter, but soon appeared uninterested in quickly doing so, or in disciplining those members of his administration — Karl Rove, Scooter Libby, and Richard Armitage — who were ultimately found to have been the culprits.
We should wait to see if Obama fully delivers on his pledge to reveal what he’s found, but so far, he seems to be approaching the issue with greater openness than his predecessor.