Blagojevich tells his side of story in ‘Governor’

Ousted Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich paints his picture of the events surrounding his arrest in a political scandal that shook the state as President Barack Obama was sworn in as the 44th president. The following is an excerpt.

Chapter 1
The eyes of the world were on Washington, D.C. on January 20, 2009. On a cold and sunny day, and under a bright blue sky — a sky many hoped signified that change had arrived and brighter days were ahead — Barack Obama was sworn in as the 44th President of the United States. A generation after Dr. Martin Luther King’s historic “I Have a Dream” speech, and nearly 200 years after the birth of Abraham Lincoln, our nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal, was about to see the first African-American president in our nation’s history sworn into office.

What a day! The kind of day you want your kids to see. The kind of day, if you were there, you would one day tell your grandchildren about.

Everyone was there. From political leaders to Hollywood stars, from labor leaders to corporate CEOs. Aretha Franklin was there; she sang “My Country ’Tis of Thee.” Oprah was there. And so were millions of ordinary citizens from all over America, making the trip to witness history and see President-elect Barack Obama.

I first met Barack Obama about 14 years ago. A mutual friend took me to the law firm he worked in. He was a young lawyer, a state senator, and a guy many saw as a rising star. I was a young lawyer, a state representative preparing to run for Congress, and also a guy many saw as a rising star. In fact, it was not long after that first meeting that he and I began our climb up the political ladder in Chicago that would one day make me governor of our state, and on this day, make him president of our country.

Washington, D.C., was indeed the place to be. But a number of miles away in Chicago, where it was cold and sunny too, the streets were empty. It seemed like everyone had gone to Washington; pilgrims making the journey to celebrate and indulge their pride in their hometown hero; to be there and be part of ushering in a new era in American history.

Everyone, that is, except me. Moments after the new president took his oath of office, I was at the federal courthouse in downtown Chicago getting fingerprinted by a deputy U.S. marshal.

On that day, the new president heard the sound of brass bands playing. He heard a twenty-one gun salute and “Hail to the Chief.” He heard the multitudes roar with approval at his historic speech. Everyone is with him.

No one is with me. I’m alone. I’m hearing the sound of a heavy metal iron door unbolting, opening the lockup, and then the sound of it closing. It’s a loud crashing sound — like a thunder clap — when you hear it and you’re in it — it shakes you. It’s a sound that says you are losing your freedom, and the world out there has now been closed off to you. It’s a terrifying sound; an ominous sound. A sound, I hope, I never have to hear again.

The Governor of Illinois, the fifth-largest state in the United States, the first governor in America to endorse Barack Obama for president — he’s there doing that, I’m here doing this. He’s now the President of the United States, like Zeus in Greek mythology, on top of Mt. Olympus. I’m Icarus, who flew too close to the Sun. And I crashed to the ground.

On that historic day, the whole world listened to the new president as he spoke to it. On that same day, that world was closed off to me. And it felt like it was closing in.

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