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Why Wasn’t the Guy Whose Daddy Wanted to “Cut His Nuts Off” Acceptable to Obama?

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There was a significant detail in the Trib’s Rahm-talking-to-Blago story. The story lists who Obama considered acceptable candidates to replace him in the Senate.

Another source said that contact between the Obama camp and the governor’s administration regarding the Senate seat began the Saturday before the Nov. 4 election, when Emanuel made a call to the cell phone of Harris. The conversation took place around the same time press reports surfaced about Emanuel being approached about taking the high-level White House post should Obama win.

Emanuel delivered a list of candidates who would be "acceptable" to Obama, the source said. On the list were Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett, Illinois Veterans Affairs director Tammy Duckworth, state Comptroller Dan Hynes and U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky of Chicago, the source said. All are Democrats.

Sometime after the election, Emanuel called Harris back to add the name of Democratic Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan to the approved list, the source said.

Note who is missing from this list?

Obama national campaign co-chair, Jesse Jackson Jr. 

There are a lot of reasons why Obama may not have favored JJJ replacing him in the Senate–including JJJ’s own statements that broke Obama’s "no drama Obama" campaign rule. 

A contributing factor, though, may be that JJJ’s father was publicly taped threatening to cut Obama’s nuts off.

I raise this not to talk about the President-elect’s nuts, but to point to an underlying (and potentially explicit) tension in Blago’s efforts to sell Obama’s senate seat. JJJ’s fundraiser Raghuveer Nayak may have approached Blago about the seat on October 31. Then, just one day later, Rahm apparently called John Harris and told him that Obama did not want JJJ to replace him in the Senate.

Recall, too, the reference to Obama that JJJ made in his press conference on the Senate seat.

But watching the president-elect carry himself in such an extraordinary way across this country to build bridges that had never been built in this country, even I had become inspired.

And so somewhere along the way, over the last two and a half years, I got the idea that if a skinny kid with a funny name could be president of the United States, that a short kid with a somewhat controversial but certainly a high profile name could be a senator from Illinois.

JJJ delivered that "even I" with pointed emphasis, almost bitterness.

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Jesse Jackson Jr’s Dad Gets a Lawyer, Too

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In news that is very ominous for Candidate 5 and his family, Jesse Jackson Jr is not the only one who has lawyered up since Blago’s arrest on Tuesday. Jesse Jackson Sr has done so too (h/t nextstopchicago and choochmac).

Also, the congressman’s father, Jesse Jackson Sr., has retained legal council following the Blagojevich arrest. 

Given the fact that Blago claimed last week that he was first approached by an emissary of JJJ with a monetary deal for the senate seat before the election, and given the high likelihood that the Feds taped the meeting between JJJ and Blago on Monday, I’d say the Reverend’s lawyering up is very ominous indeed.

Update: There are three (maybe just two, given Blago’s ramblings) people named in the complaint with ties to JJJ:

Associate of SC 5: Approached Blago with a “pay to play” offer
Emissary: The one who delivered the Associate’s message (may be Associate, may not be)
Individual D: Blago tried to get campaign donations from him in the last several days, Blago believes D is close to JJJ

Obviously, Jesse Jackson Sr couldn’t be Individual D (since there’s no question they’re close). Which suggests if he’s named in the complaint, he’s Associate or Emissary. Of course, it’s perfectly likely that JJ Sr had contacts with Blago not mentioned on the tapes–which may well be perfectly innocent–but that he has retained counsel as a precautionary measure before he goes to Fitz to reveal those contacts.

Update: I’ve changed the title of this. A couple of readers suggested I was using the term improperly. I think the usage in the blogosphere is somewhat different, but I recognize that their point about general usage is fair. So I’m changing it to make sure I make it clear that we have every reason to believe that Jesse Sr. is willing to cooperate with federal investigators.