Missed in the coverage of the Sestak job offer scandal was a lunch The President had with President Clinton in the private dining room. This was reported in Politico Playbook 5:31 AM EST Thursday. Was this a “message coordination luncheon” or “a thank you Clinton” for taking a risk by offering an “uncompensated advisory board” position to Congressman Sestak? Wonder if fish was served?
Less than 24 hours after lunch and three months of review the White House released a memorandum providing its first account of what happened with Mr. Sestak.
There are many elements to this story.
- Campaigning against Hillary, Obama made clear he had no hint of scandal like the Clintons and his White House would be accountable and transparent.
- Rahm Emanuel’s political maneuvering as White House chief of staff to steer political races. Three are known plus Sestak.
- A L-O-N-G delay to explain what took place regarding the job offer Sestak told a local television host in February he had received from the White House.
- Then a bottom line defense “There have been numerous, reported instances in the past when prior administrations – both Democratic and Republican, and motivated by the same goals – discussed alternative paths to service for qualified individuals also considering campaign for public office”.
- To this point the whole matter looks like amateur hour.
Let’s move to the future.
A future with questions if a crime was committed, federal laws violated and even a cover up.
At a June 22, 1972, President Nixon told a press conference when ask about the break-in of the Democratic National Committee at the Watergate, “The White House has had no involvement whatever in this particular incident.”
On Thursday the same day President Obama had lunch with Mr. Clinton he told reporters at a White House news conference, “I can assure the public that nothing improper took place.”
Sound familiar?