How Blago got whacked (and Obama got away)

If you didn’t know it was the Blagojevich saga, you might think it was a script for a “Goodfellas” sequel:

An ambitious young man marries the daughter of a powerful Chicago political boss. The boss “makes” the man and gives him his start in the “business.”

Now a full-fledged “wiseguy,” he is schooled first hand in the norms, etiquette, and social mores of the “The Chicago Way.” He learns about bribes, kickbacks and pay-to-play schemes from the best in the biz. The man becomes a congressman and a governor.

Man, now he’s golden.

Unfortunately, as the years pass, the man gets cocky. He betrays the father-in-law. Doesn’t he remember who brought him to the dance? All hell breaks loose. Threats are made and carried out. The man’s political boss/ father-in-law rats him out to the media. A federal investigation is launched. The Feds tap the man’s phones.

Resentful and desperate, he messes with the wrong people: the President of the United States; his evil chief of staff; a civil rights leader; the civil rights leader's son, the womanizing congressman. Each of them is well-versed in the "Chicago Way," each insulated from harm, ridicule, and innuendo.

Years later, the man will be sitting on a witness stand in federal court, pleading for his life. He’ll recount his own life’s adversities – his failure at Little League, flunking out of law school, his dashed hopes for an NBA career (he’s 5’8”) – hoping it will be enough to turn the jury’s hearts his way. It won’t.

The conviction comes in: guilty on 17 counts. It’s off to the Big House - not the White House – for fourteen years.

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