In case you hadn't heard, Oscar nominee Josh Brolin has been signed to play the lead in "Rod:The Movie" with Will Smith as Barack Obama and Ben Stiller as Rahm Emanuel. Although it is still possible that a soon to be unemployed Illinois Governor might want to play himself. He's certainly been too busy visiting "The View" to even attend his own impeachment trial, where contrary to his public pronouncements, he could certainly testify in his own behalf. But of course, he then couldn't play martyr or wrap himself in the mantra of Gandhi, Mandela and King. TNB just realized that chutzpah was a Serbian word.
Blago is just the latest in a series of governors who have fallen on hard times. Being a governor is not what it used to be, although there will never be any shortage of candidates anywhere in the USA.
As recently as 1977-2009, the White House (with the exception of Bush 41's one term) was continually occupied by former governors (Carter, Reagan, Clinton and Bush 43). But the 2008 Presidential campaign produced only a few viable candidates (Romney, Huckabee) who were former governors plus one sitting governor (Richardson) now being investigated for corruption and another (Sarah you-know-who)now being investigated for brain cramp. There don't appear to be a lot of present governors who are future presidential material, but as we know surprises happen.
Worse yet, this decade alone has seen the following governors lose their office under a cloud:
Convicted and Sent to Prison:
John Rowland (CT)
Edward Di Prete (RI)
Edwin Edwards (LA)
George Ryan (IL)
Recalled by Electorate:
Gray Davis (CA) Replaced by Arnold S.
Resigned Due to Sex Scandal:
James McGreevey NJ) Involving a male
Eliot Spitzer (NY) Involving a female
Spitzer's successor, David Paterson, has not exactly distinguished himself in selecting Hillary Clinton's Senate replacement, but he at least apparently didn't attempt to sell the seat to the highest bidder (Caroline could have easily been the winner).
Senators have fared a little better, although Ted Stevens was convicted of corruption and Larry Craig was a bad boy in the men's room.
Not a lot of great role models for today's youth.
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I think Davis got a bum rap. He was actually quite effective. If you recall, TNB, poor Gray Davis was blamed for the fake electricity crisis in California (it turned out to be the fault of Enron). That now seems quaint given the state's crises in real estate, education, employment, public benefits...need I go on? Arnold has been unable/unwilling to break the state's budget deadlock for months which has made things much, much worse. Our Governor might not be Mandela, but he is no Gray Davis either.
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