Over the weekend at a Christmas party, I was in the company of several friends enjoying a good time with people I truly enjoy being around. At one point, a friend, whom I know is a Democrat, and another fellow and I were waiting for the dinner to begin. I made some crack about “running for governor of Illinois,” at which the Democrat friend began to expound on the great corruption of the political system in that state. My initial reaction was, “Wow, progress!” Then, in the next breath, I heard him utter the name “Obama.” I was almost giddy, convinced that the veil had been removed from his eyes and that he was about to have an old fashioned REVIVAL of common sense return.

Then, he finished his sentence: “tried to clean that whole mess up.” I stood there for a moment, like the girl who just gets the text message from her boyfriend, expecting terms of endearment, only to get a “We’re finished” message. Vertigo. Error. Unable to process. Redo from start.

If I had had a mouthful of coffee, I may have spewed it across the food. Had I been eating, I might have coughed it up and choked on it as some of it lodged in the back of my nasal passages. I’m almost surprised that he didn’t end the story with, “but those corrupt politicians turned on him and killed him. However, on the third day, he arose from the dead.”

I was once involved in the used car business. For the first few months, I tried to do everything in an honest and above board way. But, on more than one occasion, I heard the phrase “You can’t have a conscience and work in this business.” Slowly, surely, and with greater frequency, I began to compromise what was right and do what was wrong. This is not to excuse my decisions: they were mine, despite the pressure. I could have easily quit or refused to give in. But I didn’t. My point is, surrounded by bad company, good morals gave way.

So we are left to believe that our President-Elect was surrounded by people of questionable character, from William Ayers to Jeremiah Wright to Tony Rezko to Rod Blagojevich and yet he remained above the sewer and floated as an angel upon an astral plane as these characters rooted nose first in the muck of wickedness. Furthermore, without any credible or concrete documentation in even the most favorable of media outlets to back it up, my good Democrat friend wanted me to believe that the Most Merciful (may his name be praised) reached down from the heavenlies to the abode of mortal and immoral men to change their wicked ways.

Let us keep this in mind: our ethereal President-Elect wouldn’t even BE where he is without the political machine in his own home state. Illinois politics in general and Chicago politics specifically are coldblooded and heartless. Obama glided through like Barry Sanders playing for the Detroit Lions: stealthily and craftily and successfully, and yet was still part of the team. But it is impossible to be a part of something and not be affected by the surroundings. Even Sanders had his fill of a culture of losing and bad coaching and decided to no longer participate. The President-Elect? Ah, well, he tried to clean it all up, but he was just a victim of circumstance. I suppose this is what we have to look forward to as he tries to implement “Change We Can Believe In.” He’ll have plenty of built in excuses when it fails, and it certainly won’t be his fault.  He’s as clean and as pure as the wind driven snow.

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