YOU CAN'T EXPECT THE PROFOUNDLY INEXPERIENCED TO BE COMPETENT FROM THE START:

Rendell slams Obama over Blago (CARRIE BUDOFF BROWN, 12/12/08, Politico)

“They have never been in an executive position before,” Rendell said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “The rule of thumb is whatever you did, say it and get it over with and make it a one-day story as opposed to a three-day story. Politicians are always misjudging the intelligence of the American people.”

Known for his blunt critiques of fellow Democrats, Rendell did not hold back during the interview.

The public, said Rendell, understands Obama and his aides would have an interest in who fills the Senate seat, and some contact with the governor's office — and that Obama should have said as much at the outset.

"Did Rahm Emanuel who took Rod Blagojevich's seat in Congress have contact with Rod Blagojevich? Of course he did," Rendell said.

Obama gets a crisis 'test run': The president-elect's third response to the Blagojevich corruption scandal may have been the charm. (Peter Nicholas, December 12, 2008, LA Times)

It took three tries in as many days for President-elect Barack Obama to roll out a strategy for defusing the crisis over Illinois Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich's alleged attempt to put his old Senate seat up for sale. [...]

Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said: "The first answer -- I don't have any comment on an ongoing investigation -- sounded exactly like the comments we've gotten from President Bush. And I don't think that's much of an answer. The answer that he'll [make public] the complete list is finally the right answer."

After basing his campaign for president on a promise to transform Washington, Obama is obliged to set the highest ethical standards, some government watchdog groups say. His transition co-chair, John Podesta, further raised expectations when he vowed last month to run the most open transition in history.

The complaint filed against Blagojevich said he wanted to talk to one of Obama's aides and ask for help raising up to $15 million for a nonprofit group the governor wanted to create.

Yet top aides to the president-elect, including Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, who has political ties to Blagojevich, have not been made available to reporters.

Emanuel has accompanied Obama to some of his news conferences in Chicago over the last month, standing off to the side with other aides. But since the Blagojevich story broke, he has largely kept out of public view. He was not seen at Obama's latest news conference.

Posted by Orrin Judd at December 12, 2008 10:26 AM