Yesterday, CNN’s Rick Sanchez asked Sestak whether the White House had offered him a gig as Secretary of the Navy in order to buy him out of the Pennsylvania Senate primary. He dissembled, although he did confirm that the White House offered him a job.
Here’s the problem: Now that he’s the nominee, Sestak needs and will receive Obama’s full support. But the bribe issue is still there, and it’s not going away. I suspect he will eventually regret bringing it up in the first place. It probably outraged liberals enough to help him defeat Sen. Arlen Specter in the Democratic primary. It made him look like the principled legislator who refused to step aside in exchange for a benefit. During the primary, his very unwillingness to discuss it in detail made him appear gracious toward those working against him.
But that’s over now. It can only hurt him from now until Election Day, especially if he keeps protecting the White House by giving evasive answers about the incident and acting like “it doesn’t matter.” Of course it matters.
