The Chicago Tribune, in spite of endorsing Barack Obama, has allowed
fairly extensive coverage of Obama’s ties to corruption in Chicago
and Illinois. John Kass has written some frank articles about Obama’s
connections. Consider this article by Kass dated January 2, 2009.
“OK, Kass, what are you paying Gov. Rod Blagojevich to give you material
for your columns? Or is he the gift that keeps on giving? —Sue S.

Dear Sue: As our esteemed governor has famously said, this thing is
“bleeping golden.” But the Illinois political freak show is not a gift to
me. I offer it nobly and without charge, as a gift to America. Because,
finally, despite all the willful cheerleading of national media types who
prattled cherubically about the new Camelot, Americans are finally
realizing that Chicago politics is no fairy tale.
 
President-elect Barack Obama was not found as an infant, floating in a reed
basket along the banks of the Chicago River. He is not the gentle faun, the
Mr. Tumnus, of the Daley machine. Obama could have forcefully and publicly
demanded that Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan and fellow Illinois
Democrats support legislation for a special election to fill his vacated
Senate seat. Obama had a responsibility to the people of Illinois to do so.
But he kept his mouth shut. As always, he avoided conflict with machine
political bosses, a consistent character trait stubbornly ignored by his
media cheerleaders.

His top White House strategist and his chief of staff are creatures of the
Daley machine, and Democrats didn’t want to risk the Senate seat. What
happened to the promise of transcending the old politics?

So when the freak show comes to Washington next week and political hack
Roland “I’m a tool of the people” Burris is denied entry to the Senate, and
the national political class shrieks in fake outrage and Blagojevich
surrounds himself with African-American ministers and he sings “Let my
people go!” remember who could have stopped all this: Obama, Madigan, Daley
and the Illinois Democrats.”

Read more here:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/chi-kass-02-jan02,0,3148099.column