About Obama and Bago-- look up Truman and...

[TreasonousBastard]

his relationship with Tom Pendergast.

No one's ever put the taint of corruption on Harry Truman, and I doubt they'll ever find any seriously fishy smells around Obama, but the fact is you don't find yourself in the Senate, much less White House, without meeting a few shady characters on the way.

Pendergast was a local machine boss, and everything, EVERYTHING, in that county went through him. Including Harry Truman. Truman wopuld not have run for Senate if not for his buddy Tom okaying it.

But he was smart enough to keep Truman out of the fishier deals and genuinely Bad Things he ocassionally did. It wasn't just plausible deniability, but smart politics to have an "honest man" so close to him.

Harry, in his sort-of-autobography "Plain Speakiing," claims Pendergast never asked him to do anything less than on the up-and up, and he never inquired too closely into Tom's business. The relationship worked very well for both of them.

Now, Bago seems to be real shitforbrains compared to Pendergast, or any of the other classic bosses. Even most that are around today would never get caught being so stupid. But, let's face it, Obama had to run into this guy here and there.

He just had to finesse around the sleaze.

Like Harry did. Harry did get slammed for it, too, but managed to toss it off. Like Barack will.

(I ain't sayin' nuttin' about no 90 minute meetings with that other guy, though...)

[rasputin1952]

1. To make it in politics, one must be well connected and networked...

like you say, there are honest pols out there, even if it seems there are not, but inevitably, even one who might be considered a "saint", had to come across shady characters.

TR, was another one that came up through the bosses, but they tried to shuffle him off once they found he wasn't about to play the game. He went on to do things that were adverse to the "way things are"m and they got him to run as VP, figuring he could not do any harm from a position that only went to State funerals and waited for a sitting pres to gasp a last breath. Much to the serious chagrin of those who were running several syndicates and monopolies, McKinley breathed his last on Sept 14th, 1901, and an essentially incorruptible TR rose to PotUS.

[EFerrari]

2. Obama has admitted to hanging around with some shady characters but he was

referring to the Senate.