Pssst . . . Wanna Buy a Senate Seat?

Wrong emotion. If someone had taken a poll of the rest of the people of Illinois that day I’d guess very few of them would have offered “saddened” in response to a question on their feeling about Blagojevich’s efforts to make money on just about everything that happened in Illinois over the past six years.

Outraged? Certainly. Disgusted? Sure. Entertained? Yep. F–ing sick of this s– from these a–holes? If you’re Rod Blagojevich.

But “saddened” is the kind of reaction you have if a friend loses a spouse or if someone you trust lets you down. It’s not the kind of reaction you have if you’ve run a campaign for a politician only to have him embarrass himself in wiretaps from a federal investigation into his six-year orgy of corruption.

In an interview before the election, Obama’s newly named White House chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, suggested that the president-elect did have such a relationship with Blagojevich.

Ryan Lizza wrote in the New Yorker:

Wilhelm would later say that Emanuel had overstated Obama’s role. And by most accounts Obama and Blagojevich were not terribly close (and not close at all after the public learned that Blagojevich’s administration was the subject of a federal investigation). Blagojevich was conspicuously absent from Obama’s victory celebration in Grant Park on Election Night, and he had no speaking role at the Democratic National Convention. One Illinois political insider said that while some donor sharing was natural given that both men were rising stars in the Democratic party, he was surprised that there wasn’t more overlap.

Blagojevich was elected in 2002 and, according to the 76-page affidavit released by U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald last week, almost immediately began a “pay-to-play” scheme that aggressively solicited campaign donations from those who wanted to do business with the state and denied state business to those who refused to participate. Even by the standards of a state known for its dirty politics, the audacity of Blagojevich’s corruption was breathtaking. He tried to have editorial board members of the Chicago Tribune fired for criticizing him. He traded seats on important state boards and commissions for campaign cash.

Most egregiously, though, Blagoje-vich tried to sell Obama’s Senate seat. In one taped conversation he declared the Senate seat “a f–g valuable thing,” adding, “You just don’t give it away for nothing.” Blagojevich believed that Obama wanted Valerie Jarrett, a longtime friend and confidante of the president-elect, to have the seat, so he schemed to extract goodies from the incoming administration. At one point, Blagojevich mused about being named secretary of health and human services in exchange for appointing Jarrett to the seat. At another, he developed a scheme in which he would take a high-paying job as head of “Change to Win,” a union-backed advocacy group.

After the story broke on December 9, reporters quickly focused on a series of events that began five days after Obama was elected. On November 9, CNN reported that Obama wanted Blagojevich to appoint Jarrett to succeed him. WLS, a Chicago talk-radio station, reported the same thing.

But a little more than 24 hours later, CNN reported that Jarrett would not be getting the job. A “top Obama adviser” explained the decision this way. “While [Obama] thinks she would be a good senator, he wants her in the White House.”

What happened? According to the affidavit, Blagojevich held a two-hour conference call on November 10 with a large number of advisers. He spoke openly about his desire to get something in exchange for the seat and schemed with his advisers about his best options.

This chain of events led to speculation last week that one of Obama’s advisers learned about the conference call and Blagojevich’s desire for some kind of quid pro quo for appointing Jarrett. With this knowledge, Jarrett withdrew from consideration before anyone from the Obama transition could be accused of cooperating with Blagojevich. It’s speculation, but it fits the timeline.

According to an individual with knowledge of internal Obama transition deliberations, that speculation is wrong. This person says that while Jarrett wanted to be appointed to the Senate, Obama always wanted Jarrett with him at the White House.

Roland Martin, a Chicago political commentator with close ties to Obama, says the president-elect formally offered Jarrett a White House job on November 9, while she was on business in New York. Jarrett told Martin about the offer the next day and said he could break the story when the Obama transition was ready to make a formal announcement. Martin says Jarrett told him she would be an assistant to the president and head of the White House Office of Public Liaison. Martin broke the news on November 14.

So what did Obama know? He has said–repeatedly and categorically–that he had no contact with Blagoje-vich about his replacement. And at a press conference last Thursday, during which Obama upgraded his reaction from “saddened and sobered” to “appalled,” he promised to make public details of any contacts that his staff had with Blagojevich or the governor’s staff about the Senate seat.

Even with a 76-page complaint, a lengthy press conference by Fitzgerald, and lots of reporting in the public record, we know very little about what actually happened. But, as Obama cheerfully recalled at his press conference Thursday, that Blagojevich had used an obscenity to describe him (the affidavit specifies “motherf–er”). And while there is still the possibility that the Blagojevich scandal will tarnish Obama and his advisers–if Obama fails to make public a complete and accurate listing of the contacts with Blagojevich, for instance–the complaint makes clear that Blagojevich was frustrated and angry that the Obama team was not open to his advances.

“They’re not willing to give me anything but appreciation,” Blagojevich said of Obama and his staff. “F– them.”

Stephen F. Hayes is a senior writer at THE WEEKLY STANDARD.