Administration's First Big Test

Not that Obama didn’t have a lot on his plate, but the fall of Blagojevich offers the first big test of his administration. Politico notes that Obama can hardly duck the issue, as he did yesterday, with both Blagojevich and Rep. Charlie Rangel facing ethics probes. In a wonderfully cranky column, The Chicago Tribune’s John Kass blasts the national media for their idealization of Obama and Chicago. “They've been clinging to the ridiculous notion that Chicago is Camelot for months now, cleaving to the idea with the willfulness of stubborn children,” writes Kass. “It must help them see Obama as some pristine creature, perhaps a gentle faun of a magic forest, unstained by our grubby politics…” Best line of the morning goes to Timothy Egan: “The surprise is that he didn’t offer to sell out exclusive rights to deep-dish pizza.”