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It looks as though Mr. Obama will not make it through the Blagojevich scandal unscathed. Though there is still no indication that Mr. Obama will be implicated in any of the shadiness, the hope of this fading away quickly is itself fading. There are continual suggestions that the Obama camp must manage. It is a horrible sign that Rham Emanuel is hiding behind "no comment".

The real damage here is the distraction. Mr. Obama has received near universal approval for his action thus far. He does not need a scandal this early, especially one that threatens to typecast him as a typical Chicago politician, and worse, undermines his key campaign theme. In a worst case scenario, such as Mr. Emanuel being forced to resign, this could cast a shadow over his entire presidency. Even less grave outcomes will hurt his thus far stainless image with voters. Mr. Obama needs to deal with this aggressively and quickly. It is a failure of his camp that he is dealing with this at all.