May 27, 2010
Obama Makes Bad Move in Alleged Sestak Job Offer
President Obama said at his press conference today that he "can assure the public that nothing improper took place" in conversations between the White House and Rep. Joe Sestak, who suggested earlier this year he was offered a White House job in exchange for dropping his primary challenge against Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter.
And Nixon said he wasn't a crook, either.
As others have pointed out, there aren't too many scenarios here, and none are good from Democrats. Either Sestak is lying, or someone in the Obama Administration seems to have committed a felony.
But by responding to these charges himself, Obama can no longer pretend to be above the fray, and has involved himself as an actor in any potential scandal that could erupt from the possible crime, or the presumptive cover-up.
It wasn't a very smart move on Obama's part.
But then, so few things in his Administration have been anything resembling smart.
I would think that they could simply say that if he didn't have future plans they could use him in the administration. That likely would fly. All of us know he tried to bribe the guy, but proving that will be difficult. I just wonder what Sestak is trying to get out of this.
Posted by: David at May 27, 2010 03:46 PMNow it is an Impeachable crime. Let's see who is brave enough to go after the Chicago Machine, moved to Washington DC.
Posted by: Marc at May 27, 2010 06:03 PMOne of three things happened. Either no one offered a job to Sestak, or an implicit job offer was made, or an explicit job offer was made. If no offer was made, then the administration should say so. All of this "nothing improper took place" talk just makes it look like they are trying to hide something, and the only conclusion is that some kind of offer was made.
Posted by: MikeM at May 27, 2010 09:08 PMMarc - I so agree with you. CY and others - I have been watching these guys and their cohorts for so many years get away with things that any other person would be tarred and feathered and run out of town. My guess is they are so corrupt and complicit in bribery and political extortion that they will get a free pass from the media and all the other spineless libs and the "Why can't we all get along" republicans. Hell, they couldn't put a dent in a slimeball that had SEX in the Oval office, and lied under oath.
Posted by: mixitup at May 27, 2010 09:08 PMW.R.T. The One, it just doesn't matter. No congress is going to impeach the first African American President of the United States, even if the offer was illegal and captured on video and witnessed by 100 people.
I think Sestak dropped this little tid-bit in February in order to keep the Whitehouse from campaigning for Specter. "Stay away or I'll start talking...". He's probably wishing now that he hadn't. On the other hand, he might've lost the primary if they'd been more involved because he kept quiet, so maybe not.
In the end, Sestak and the White House will both wind up saying that Sestak really was offered a job, but he misunderstood the conversation and it wasn't offered as a quid pro quo exchange.
Posted by: scp at May 27, 2010 10:21 PMOh please, they would no more impeach a quota then they would expect anything from one, good or bad. If he sold cocaine in the lobby and was caught, we would be told it was "not job related", so there is no issue.
What this so called president has already done and gotten away with proves he is outside of law, decorum, moral and civil requirements, etc. I laugh when I hear people suggesting anything would be done no matter what.
Posted by: Doom at May 28, 2010 09:34 AMWell the good news is that Obama has reached out for "professional help" on the Sestak matter.
It was once said of the Clintons, Bill and Hillary, that they were both liars, and Bill was very very good at it. Since a helpful lie might help in this coverup, they've now involved Clinton who will say that 'twas he that talked to Sestak. You can't get any more professional liar than Bill Clinton. So score this one a "plus" for Obama's competence.
