All in the Chicago Family

Excerpt from the story: Among the more appealing messages that Barack Obama campaigned on in 2008 was his promise to change the culture in Washington and usher in a new era of openness and honesty in government.

It was the sort of message that still resonates with an increasingly cynical electorate that is, as Obama’s handlers recognized, fed up with the corruption, hidden agendas and back-room deals that characterize life within the beltway. Voters hoped that this fresh face, so full of earnest enthusiasm and idealistic vision, could be the one to usher in a new era.

Almost two years after that historic election, more and more voters are realizing that not only didn’t get the change they had hoped for, they’re actually getting much more of business as usual than they could have ever imagined. As ethical questions continue to swirl around the people that the president has embraced one cannot help but wonder if the vaunted political acumen of the Obama administration has been vastly overrated, or if the president and his advisors simply feel that they can and should be able to pull the wool over the eyes of the American people at will.

The list of Obama associates and appointees who have serious ethical problems is long indeed, from Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and his unpaid taxes through ex “Green Czar” Van Jones’ communist ties. Now there is a new name on that dishonor roll: the Democratic candidate for the United States Senate seat that was once held by Barack Obama: Illinois Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias. Giannoulias’ sordid history and that of his shady associates should be enough to concern any canny politician this side of Boss Tweed, but the president has embraced Giannoulias as if he were the second coming of Obama himself.

Giannoulias’s political baggage has not stopped the president from endorsing a candidate who helped run a bank into the ground, who made millions while that bank bled red ink, and who has ties to the mob and disgraced political figures.

"Show me who you walk with, and I will show you who you are..." -Barack Obama