Life
Blagojevich Eyed Indian Ambassadorship
Tapes played at impeached Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s trial for trying to sell Sen. Barach Obama’s seat show that he was especially smitten with the prospect of being appointed ambassador to India.
“I’m the governor of a $58 billion corporation,” Blagojevich tells his chief of staff John Harris on one recording from Nov. 5, 2008, “Why can’t I be ambassador to India?” In the recording, made the day after the presidential elections, Blagojevich muses on various potential appointments in Pres. Obama’s administration in exchange for nominating Obama’s friend Valerie Jarrett to the Senate seat, suggesting, “Let’s go down the pecking order. What else is good?” HARRIS You know, I wouldn’t do any ambassadorships. I mean Obama would do ambassadorships. BLAGOJEVICH He would? HARRIS Yeah, I think he’d do ambassadorships. BLAGOJEVICH Okay. I’m interested. How about India? South Africa? How about India? India’s vital.
HARRIS Yeah, India’s vital. I’d say India… BLAGOJEVICH Is that realistic or would he reject that? HARRIS No, that’s realistic. BLAGOJEVICH Is it? HARRIS I think so. BLAGOJEVICH No shit. HARRIS Indonesia is just as good as India. In terms of, I mean we could have DCO give us a big, do some research on trading partners with the U.S. BLAGOJEVICH Get that quietly. Just trading partners with the U.S., right? HARRIS Right. BLAGOJEVICH Indonesia, it, okay, India, you think India’s not out of the realm of possibility, huh? HARRIS Well, no, I take that back, ‘cause I don’t know who his Indian donors are. You know, in terms of he might uh… BLAGOJEVICH I don’t, understand that, but I don’t think he’s gonna’ put an Indian there. I don’t think he’d put an Indian… HARRIS That would seem to be much more professional person, lot of credentials. BLAGOJEVICH That’s what I think, it’s vital. HARRIS Vital, big, you know, corporate CEO type. BLAGOJEVICH Yeah. However, I’m a corp, I’m a CEO. A 58 billion dollar corporation. (Clears throat) I don’t think it’s an Indian donor. I don’t think you put an Indian donor to be ambassador of India, who’s got conflicting loyalties. Do you follow me? HARRIS Mm-hmm.
HARRIS Right. BLAGOJEVICH John Kenneth Galbraith used to be ambassador to India. I mean, who’s there now? You see what I’m saying. You gotta look and see who’s been, who’s done those. So you think that’s out of the realm of possibility or not? Too high? HARRIS Too important a trading partner. BLAGOJEVICH Mm-hmm. Let’s not, li-, listen, uh, uh, let’s not, uh, I hear what you’re saying. HARRIS Yeah. BLAGOJEVICH On the other hand, Bill Daley was commerce secretary. What the fuck were his credentials? Ron Brown was commerce secretary. The commerce secretary is much bigger than ambassador to India. Right? HARRIS Mm-hmm. BLAGOJEVICH Right or wrong? HARRIS Right. No, I think the commerce secretary is a huge job. BLAGOJEVICH Right. So I’m the governor of a 58 billion dollar corporation. Why can’t I be ambassador to India? BLAGOJEVICH What do you got? Because that Senat seat doesn’t mean that much to him. HARRIS Yeah, just India’s just such a vital, vital… BLAGOJEVICH What’s more important? Commerce secretary or ambassador to India? HARRIS Commerce secretary. BLAGOJEVICH Okay. I think I’ve got a bigger resume than Bill Daley had before he went, became commerce secretary. HARRIS Yeah, but that wasn’t about Bill Daley. That was about Rich Daley. BLAGOJEVICH Okay. Fair enough. That’s my point. HARRIS Yeah. BLAGOJEVICH This is about the governor of his home state and a U.S. senator. Alright, anyway… 18 HARRIS Mm-hmm. BLAGOJEVICH What do you think? Unreachable or, you know, not necessarily unreachable, but hard to get. What category? HARRIS Hard, hard to get. I’d put it, you know, in the, you know, right of hard, but not unreas-, not im-, not impossible. BLAGOJEVICH Not like uh… HARRIS Not like U.N. ambassador. BLAGOJEVICH Correct or DH, Health and Human Services. HARRIS …(UI) right. BLAGOJEVICH Germany, England, France…Canada. HARRIS All those easier than India. BLAGOJEVICH Okay. (PAUSE) HARRIS Yeah it’s, it’s the, it’s the, it’s the, it’s the Rezko issue. Less so… I think your qualifications are there. P. BLAGOJEVICH We think that ambassador to India is the best choice. BLAGOJEVICH Yeah. That, I mean that’s a substantive one. P. BLAGOJEVICH You’d like that. BLAGOJEVICH Look it’d be a big change in our lives. You know, poor Amy and Annie but I think it’d be tremendously enriching. P. BLAGOJEVICH Yeah. BLAGOJEVICH Right? P. BLAGOJEVICH Yeah. I don’t know what the hell Annie’d be eating over there but… … BLAGOJEVICH What does it pay? P. BLAGOJEVICH I don’t think it pays very much but then I think you’ve got a house there, right? BLAGOJEVICH Yeah. You know ambassador to Canada is another one. P. BLAGOJEVICH Yeah Canada’s important. BLAGOJEVICH Major trading partner with America and Illinois. BLAGOJEVICH Is there a picture of it? P. BLAGOJEVICH I’m looking, about the embasy. BLAGOJEVICH How are the running routes around there? P. BLAGOJEVICH (Chuckles) Congested I’m sure. BLAGOJEVICH Ah, huh. (PAUSE) P. BLAGOJEVICH Um, they were opened in 1959. So, um, anyway, photo gallery, try photo gallery. That doesn’t tell me anything, um, anyway… BLAGOJEVICH She’s right, I’d get skewered but see, let’s say you wanted to be ambassador to India or something… P. BLAGOJEVICH …right… BLAGOJEVICH You follow me? P. BLAGOJEVICH …right, right… BLAGOJEVICH …are you with me here? BLAGOJEVICH …yeah. |
BLAGOJEVICH Huh?