Obama should have fought corruption

While I do not think that President-elect Obama was involved with Gov. Blagojevich trying to sell Obama's vacant senate seat, neither do I completely excuse Obama in this scandal.

We have read time and time again about what a brilliant man the President-elect is, so it is hard to believe he was not smart enough to be aware of the type of patronage politics that have long plagued the city of Chicago and the state of Illinois where he was both a U.S. Senator as well as an Illinois Senator. He has claimed to be an agent of hope and change, a man of the people, the type of man who would have the courage to speak out against this type of long-standing corruption in his home state, even if it resides in his own party.

But perhaps it does take a wise man to ignore all of the political corruption that was taking place all around him.

After all, Sarah Palin stood up to the old boy's network in her own party, in her own state, and the press was quick to point out what an unqualified rube she was. It is possible that Obama will do something about this type of political corruption in the future now that he has been elected president, but for all his eloquence, in this case, it is his silence that speaks louder than his words.

Scott Schmidt

Arlington Heights