Sydney’s Aunt Chris, who took the picture, tells the tale:
The story with this is that Sydney wanted to open the door to the building by herself. It was a heavy door, but I said OK and let her stay on the outside to try it. As she struggled, and people began to arrive behind her, I opened the door from the inside and reached for Sydney. A man came up behind her and held the door, above her head. I looked up and was face to face with the governor.
He didn’t have a large entourage, and was wearing sunglasses, but I was pretty sure it was him. I sort of muttered,
“Oh…can I take your picture with Sydney?” He was very gracious and stepped over to pose with her. About that time I started to wonder if maybe this was just some guy who looked like the governor, but then I saw a body-guard type guy in a shirt with the state emblem.Anyway, I told Sydney that this was a very important man – that’s when she gave him the “I’d vote for you look” in the photo. Actually, he’s pretty much a crook like most of the Chicago/Illinois politicians, but he does take a nice picture.
Later, I told Sydney his name was “Governor Blagojevich.” She said “Wow.”1 I asked if she could say it, and she said “Governor Gabloblovech.” I said, close – try again, and Sydney laughed, shook her hands beside her head and said “Governor Blah Blah Blah Blah.”
I’m not sure that Sydney realizes that, as an Oregon resident, she doesn’t get to vote in the Illinois elections even if the age issues are resolved. Ah, well. Thanks, Aunt Chris!
- It should be noted that Sydney says “wow” to almost anything –Amp. [↩]
He was very gracious and stepped over to pose with her.
Any politician that doesn’t have the sense to get his picture taken with a really cute kid whenever possible deserves to lose the next election. Glad Sydney had a good experience in her first meeting with a politician though.
Well, she can vote in Chicago. Anyone can vote in Chicago.
Gov. Gabloblovich? Be careful – that could catch on.
“Governor Blah Blah Blah Blah” would get a “Yea” vote from about 80% of the General Assembly, including (in fact, especially) his own party.
As far as his being a crook; Illinois voters don’t mind people being crooks so much, but they tend to be appalled by incompetence.
This reminds me of the time when I was a teen in Long Beach, CA, and my bike chain came loose in the park. I ran into Delano Roosevelt (grandson of FDR, and at the time running for city council — kind of a local notable) and he showed me how to fix it.
Certainly made an impression on me. I was just thinking about it the other day.
He seems to currently be involved with some business in Saudi Arabia, and on lots of boards of directors. Not knowing the habits of these various organizations, I cannot comment. But then, our personal impressions of people are always personal, and always ultimately independent of what they really do in the larger pictures of their lives.
As far as his being a crook; Illinois voters don’t mind people being crooks so much, but they tend to be appalled by incompetence.
This is so true. And so hard to explain to people not from here.
This is so true. And so hard to explain to people not from here.
Mike Royko’s books are a good start, especially Boss (as opposed to the anthologies of his columns).
Chicago is the “City that Works”. Corruption is so ingrained that people just figure that there’s little hope of getting rid of it. There are a lot of people that have a piece of it (like city jobs that you can keep just by working the precinct at election time), so there are a lot of people who have an interest in the status quo.
Mike Royko’s books are a good start, especially Boss (as opposed to the anthologies of his columns).
Yeah, good one. I read Boss in high school; I started reading Royko’s columns when I was in grade school. To me, his columns were just like listening to my family discuss politics!
But, it’s far from just Chicago—the entire state is corrupt. And always has been. Most downstate counties have a Machine just as well-oiled as Chicago’s, with the difference being the “R”. Before the Rutan decision, the city of Springfield job applications asked for voter registration and voter ID number, relatives holding political office, union membership, party affiliation, the party affliation of close family members, campaign contributions made, hours available to dedicate to the Republican party (walking precincts, putting up posters, phonebanking, selling raffle tickets, etc.), party voted for in the previous eight years, willingness to vote for candidates endorsed by the local Republican party, etc. After Rutan, they retired the application as written—-but you still had to pass the same unwritten codes to get a City job.
To this day, many Springfield residents won’t vote in the primary, ‘cuz they don’t want their named party affiliation to “burn” them in the search to find or keep employment.
(And Chicago? My dad tells me that back in the sixties, their precinct committeeman in Chicago gave everybody with a “D” a roasting chicken for showing up on election day.)
I was just showing Syd old baby blog pictures (they love to see pictures of themselves) and she identified the governor as “the customer!” She got excited when she saw this one and said, “And that’s the customer!”
Hahaha
Pingback: Alas, a blog » Blog Archive » Fill In The Thought Balloon: Disgraced Governor Blagojevich Edition