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The memo confirmed that the President-elect did what he would be expected to do: he had a shortlist of six favorites to replace him; he discussed their respective merits and potential strategic benefits with his staff; and his soon-to-be Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel communicated those ideas to Blagojevich and his top staffer John Harris. NBC's Savannah Guthrie mentioned Valerie Jarrett, Lisa Madigan and Jesse Jackson Jr; ABC's Jonathan Karl chipped in with Dan Hynes, Tammy Duckworth and Jan Schakowsky.
So, NBC's Chuck Todd pointed out--contrary to what Obama "led us to believe"--the notion that "he was keeping a hands-off approach" was contradicted. Todd called them "the types of interactions that we would expect." Todd is stretching here. Obama's denials related to dealmaking and impropriety rather than any involvement whatsoever. ABC's Karl reported that Obama's office called the contacts "nothing unusual." As for impropriety, "it is not exactly shocking that this report shows that the Obama team did nothing wrong. After all the prosecutor has made no such allegation." CBS' Jeff Greenfield came to the same conclusion: "There is certainly nothing in the report that should stir up controversy," he told substitute anchor Harry Smith (at the tail of the Tracy videostream).
So where did Gov Blagojevich come up with the notion that Obama was not offering anything but "appreciation" as a reward for following one of his suggestions? CBS' Ben Tracy pointed to a meeting between Jarrett and Tom Balanoff of the Service Employees International Union at which the idea of a Cabinet position for Blagojevich was dismissed as "ridiculous." NBC's Todd picked up on the meeting: "They may have laughed it off but did Jarrett pass on this information to the President-elect…and what did the union official know about what Blagojevich was doing?"
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