Claim from No Quarter: Michelle Obama is "Specifically Named Individual" on Page 64 of Indictment

Before you get excited, this "specifically named individual" is not being named as part of a crime. Well, not a chargeable crime, anyway. The gist here, according to No Quarter's interpretation of Blagojevich's statements, is that Michelle Obama profited from the same sort of legal political back-scratching that Blagojevich sought for his own wife.

Before you dismiss No Quarter -- well, you have to admit, this makes perfect sense in context.

Starting with the indictment:

ROD BLAGOJEVICH said that the consultants (Advisor B and another consultant are believed to be on the call at that time) are telling him that he has to “suck it up” for two years and do nothing and give this “motherfucker [the President-elect] his senator. Fuck him. For nothing? Fuck him.” ROD BLAGOJEVICH states that he will put “[Senate Candidate 4]” in the Senate “before I just give fucking [Senate Candidate 1] a fucking Senate seat and I don’t get anything.” (Senate Candidate 4 is a Deputy Governor of the State of Illinois).

ROD BLAGOJEVICH stated that he needs to find a way to take the “financial stress” off of his family and that his wife is as qualified or more qualified than another specifically named individual to sit on corporate boards.

Okay, so if Blago's complaining that his wife should get appointed to sit on a corporate board, and she's more qualified to do so than another "specifically named individual," and he's pissed off at Obama for not giving him something for the seat -- who could he have in mind as the unqualified "specifically named individual" sitting on corporate boards?

The “specifically named individual” is Michelle Obama, who was appointed to the Board of TreeHouse Foods, a WAL-MART vendor, on June 25, 2005, even though she did not have experience in the private sector previous to the appointment. Here are the benefits the Obama family received as a result of Michelle Obama’s stint with the WAL-MART vendor:

According to the couple’s tax returns, Mrs Obama earned $51,200 (£25,700) for her work as a non-executive director on Treehouse’s board last year, on top of the $271,618 salary she was paid as a vice-president of the University of Chicago Hospitals.

She also received 7,500 Treehouse stock options, worth a further $72,375, as she did the previous year, when she banked a $45,000 salary from the company.

Is Obama directly linked to Blago's corruption? Well, in the sense that Obama's corruption created a sense of entitlement in the Blago family for similar sweetheart deals. If the Obama's are getting filthy rich through politically-motivated appointments to corporate boards, why not the Blagojevich clan?

Michelle Obama, Blagojevich implies, received an appointment to a Board for which she was not qualified as a result of a “pay to play” scheme. What about his wife? After all, Obama ally Valerie Jarrett wants the Senate seat. What about Blagojevich’s wife? What about Blagojevich’s “financial stress?”

Note No Quarter states this a fact, when it actually seems like speculation. Pretty solid speculation, but it's not as if they have a source confirming this (AFAIK).

I'm going with "True" on this, though.

Thanks to Tversky.

Hmmm... Taken from Hot Air, this NBC Chicago article names and/or speculates who each of the unnamed persons in the indictment actually are -- but curiously forgets to mention the "Specifically Named Individual."

posted by Ace at 05:26 PM

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