Rod Blagojevich to teens: Politics is disillusioning profession
By Steve Schering Sun-Times media
The keynote speaker at the convention of the Junior State of America — a group that aims to develop young political leaders — had an uplifting message for the 230 students in attendance Saturday in Oak Brook.
“Young people can change the system,” he said. “It doesn’t happen overnight. Pick yourself up and never give in. Adversity will only make you stronger.”
That the speaker delivering the message was impeached Gov. Rod Blagojevich, a convicted felon, might seem unusual for a group trying to strengthen American democracy.
But he was well received by the students, who came in from across the state, as well as Michigan, Wisconsin, Indiana and Minnesota.
He posed for pictures and interacted with the students in the lobby after his speech.
“We benefitted a lot from hearing him speak,” Naperville North High School student Ahmed Mohamed said. “We don’t usually get to interact with a politician who has made it and has fallen like he has. He really spoke to the youth a lot, which is something most politicians don’t do.”
The ex-governor repeated his innocence claims and criticized the “cesspool of cynicism in Springfield.’’ He said he wouldn’t encourage his daughters to choose a career in politics.
Naperville North student Anastasia Golovashkina, who invited Blagojevich to the event, said “people really enjoyed hearing his speech not so much for its content but for the way in which he presented it. He kind of wants to overwhelm his audience with such a long speech, that in the end people forget what they wanted from the speech in the first place.”
She said several students felt like he dodged their questions.
“He tried to tie everything back to how he was a fantastic governor and about what he accomplished, and about how he’s of course not guilty,” she said.
Students also asked his opinion on tax increases, the deficit and working for Donald Trump on the television show “The Apprentice.’’
And students played a game of ‘‘Jeopardy!’’ with Blagojevich to raise money for Japanese earthquake and tsunami victims.
Blagojevich was criticized shortly after the earthquake for referring to his legal troubles as “my tsunami that happened to me.’’
Contributing: AP
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