Our correspondent expands:

Rodomir and Barack… not the best of pals. In fact, what much of the national media seems to be missing is that Rodomir is almost universally hated by Dems and GOP alike. He is a man, bereft of allies, who is too stubborn to admit he’s screwed everything up for himself. Generally, it’s the Tribune‘s fault, which is the source of his hatred of that paper and the subsequent extortion of them.

Barack has consistently distanced himself from Rocket Rod. Obama is closely tied with Mayor Daley, but Daley himself spends very little time dealing with Rod. Here’s Rod’s involvement with the Chicago machine: his father-in-law is Alderman Überman Dick Mell. Dick basically championed Rod all the way into the gubernatorial office in hope that Chicago—particularly “Dick Mell’s Chicago”—would have greater power in Springfield, which has long had a hostility of all things Chicago. And has not always worked in Chicago’s best interests, but in the State’s. All well and good, except that Blagojevich publically alienated Mell, and when Rod turned on Dick, Dick turned on Rod.

Point: there is no way this will make Barack look bad. Blago was clearly a “controlled flight into terrain” years ago, and Obama never got within stink’s distance of him.

Also: criminally stupid? No—the feeling here is that Rod is delusional.

Confucius, Œc. Vol.

Don’t ask impertinent questions like that jackass Adept Lu.