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Politico: Obama’s Blago report creates more questions than it answers
Hot Air » Top Picks — ... Politico headlines this article with “Obama’s five rules of scandal response,” but at least at first Kenneth Vogel and Carrie Budoff Brown exhibit a healthy skepticism of Team Obama’s self-exoneration.  They manage to miss one “rule” as well, but first let’s look at the questions they raise from incoming White House Counsel Greg Craig’s argument released ...

Obama's Rules of Scandal Management
Taegan Goddard's Political Wire — Politico has an interesting piece on the "five rules of Obama scandal-management" based on the President-elect's handling of his team's ties to Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich. ...

Transition News 12/24
The Stump — WaPo gives a rundown of Obama's Blago report, and nothing appears amiss.  Chicago Sun-Times reports that Rahm told Blago he wanted to keep his Senate seat "warm." NYT says Obama should stick to his Iraq promises.  In stimulus package allocations, environmentalists will battle traditionalists over jobs.  Politico outlines Obama's top rules of scandal response.  How Obama might deal with hunger and obesity in the US.  Is Assad sending Obama a ...

How They Handle Scandal
Opinionator — While team Obama’s report on the Blagojevitch affair was remarkably spare, Kenneth P. Vogel and Carrie Budoff Brown of the Politico think it provides a roadmap to how the next administration will handle scandals . Here are the “five rules” they have discerned: “Be transparent, to an extent”; “don’t let the news cycle dictate response”; “no freelancing”; “aides take hits to protect the boss”; and “shy away from even justified fights.” In this case, the first “rule” raises the most questions, per the Politico duo: After announcing the review, his team declined to reveal who ...

Obama’s Self-Serving Blago Report Creates More Questions Than It Answers
Say Anything — So says Politico: Why did Obama confidant Valerie Jarrett communicate with Craig through her lawyer, who the report does not name, and how many conversations did incoming White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel have with Blagojevich? The report says Emanuel urged Blagojevich to tap Jarrett for the Senate seat during “one or two telephone calls.” But in the next paragraph, it refers to “those early conversations with the governor,” and in a conference call unveiling the report, Craig said Emanuel “had a couple of conversations with ...

George, the Worst
The Reaction — ... into the Blagojevich appointment of the President-elect's Senate successor, it is clear that we expect that OBama and his people will have followed the spirit and the letter of the law in this scandalous matter. Politico.com published "Obama's five rules of scandal response" associated with the 12/23/08 Obama report detailing contacts with the embattled Governor's office. To list them in Politico's words: ...