The Blago Blog

Rod Blagojevich is one of the most disgraced men in politics today. People know the former Illinois governor for his underhanded deals in the choosing of the next Illinois Senator, outrageous phone conversations and his eccentric haircut. But a recent article in the Chicago Tribune entitled “This Explains It,” tells Blagojevich’s story from the perspective of a college friend from Northwestern, Bill Powell. He describes the Blago of the seventies as a fun, energetic, hard working college student. The future governor used to prank call radio stations, go to restaurants at 3 am and leave without paying and crank Elvis in his dorm room. Rod had a small group of friends, but he was closest to Powell. As the writer puts it: “(Rod) and I weren’t casual friends, but someone you think you know cold; you know what motivates him, frightens him, ticks him off and makes him laugh.”

But Rod Blagojevich also had another side. The former governor lived on the West side of Chicago, and was the son of a Serbian immigrant. Blagojevich didn’t have all the money and wealth of the average Northwestern student, so he was motivated to himself to the top through hard work, intense schooling, and, later on, deceit. As Powell describes it: “He identified with Nixon, the up-from-nowhere guy who busted his butt to get where he is. If you brought up Nixon’s crimes, Rod would insist that the Kennedys were worse.” Blago took the side of Nixon, whose parents, like Rod's, had humble beginnings. He had to achieve success on his own. But Rod, like Nixon, took his stop-at-nothing-to-achieve-success mentality too far when he reached high office in the government.

Politicians like Blago and Nixon may be symbols in our unit of poverty and privilege. Both began with little money and support, but used their work ethic and brains to reach the top. But even when they became President and Governor, the driving force to escape their humble beginnings still haunted them, so they fought for more power or money anyway they could. These two men are not so different from the entrepreneurs at the turn of the century, many of whom started out poor, but ended up changing the face of industry in America--no matter how many cows they had to slaughter or how many immigrants' lives they had to ruin. One hundred years later, a man from the West side of Chicago used the same take-no-prisoners mentality in the office of Governor, but instead of escaping from his underprivileged childhood, he made himself the disgrace of our state.