Astounding Things, Indeed!

The Mayor of Detroit, Kwame Kilpatrick, was sent to jail today for violating travel restrictions that are a condition of his being free on bond as he awaits trial on eight counts of perjury and other felonies. The travel restrictions were tightened after Mayor Kilpatrick was accused of assaulting a sheriff’s deputy who served a subpoena on him. Mayor Kilpatrick is a superdelegate to the Democratic National Convention.

In May 2007, Kilpatrick received this glowing endorsement from Barack Obama, who called him a “great mayor” who is doing an “outstanding job.” My favorite part is where Obama says that Kilpatrick “is going to be doing astounding things for many years to come:”

Obama said he was “grateful to call [Kwame Kilpatrick] a friend,” but that was then and this is now. The Mayor is obviously radioactive, but his situation poses a delicate problem for Obama. Kwame’s mother, Carolyn Kilpatrick, is Chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus. She faced a tough re-election race this year, mostly because of her outspoken support for her son, but Obama never endorsed her. She won the Democratic primary anyway, narrowly, on Tuesday.

Now Obama may need the Kilparticks’ support in order to carry Michigan, which appears to be in play:

Adolph Mongo, a political analyst and former consultant to Mayor Kilpatrick, said that Obama’s support would be a “tremendous endorsement” for Carolyn Kilpatrick in terms of the good perception it would generate amongst voters. But he suggested it might be more important for Obama.

“Barack Obama cannot afford to snub the congresswoman and the mayor,” Mongo said. “The mayor is the only one in Detroit that has the machine to turn out the vote.”

So, does Obama’s friend the “great mayor” get thrown under the bus, or not? Time will tell.

SCOTT adds: Also astounding is the linked New York Times story on the latest developments in the Kilpatrick case. Reader Terence Finan points out that the Times story provides another installment in the game that Don Surber titled “name that party!”

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