He is not a crook UPDATED

Obama at today's press conference, concerning Sestak-gate: "I am not a crook." Oops. "We could do that, but it would be wrong." That's not quite right either. Here it is:

"I can assure the public that nothing improper took place."

It will all be cleared up "shortly."

A simple statement of what actually happened is apparently out of the question.

I don't imagine for a second that this will end in impeachment, but I wouldn't want to get on Rep. Darrell Issa's bad side, either:

"Congressman Sestak has continued to repeat his story whenever asked without varying from the original version,” reads the e-mail [from Issa]. “The White House however has arrogantly and wrongly assumed that they can sweep this matter under the rug.”

"This may be the way business is done in Chicago, but it’s not the way things are done in our nation’s capitol, and I am intent on getting to the bottom of this,” he wrote.

Actually, I'm afraid it is the way it's done in DC. But that doesn't make it right.

Speaking of Chicago, the first family departed for their hometown this afternoon. But you know what they say about going home again:

Obama moved to Chicago to establish his political base, but now the city is a political liability. [. . .]

Giannoulis, it should be recalled, was one of those Obama intimates who assured reporters that the president would hang on to his Hyde Park lifestyle.

"There are some little things that make him enjoy life, and he's not just going to give all of that up," Giannoulias said after the 2008 election and before his own career became subprime.

But Obama seemed to give it up rather easily.

All Chicagoans have to show for having Obama in the White House is one presidential trip home, a failed bid to get the 2016 Olympics and a proposal to relocate the terrorists at Guantanamo Bay to a state prison in northern Illinois.

I've heard of people growing apart, but trying to send somebody Kahlid Sheik Mohammed is grounds for divorce.

Read the rest. Obama may or may not be a crook, but plenty of his Chicago pals are.

*Update, Friday morning: The plot thickens. Sestak acknowledges that all involved are coordinating their stories:

Richard Sestak, who has served as his brother's top political adviser and campaign lawyer, spoke with administration officials Wednesday, Joe Sestak said.

"They got ahold of my brother on his cellphone, and he spoke to the White House . . . about what's going to occur," said Sestak, who said he expects the White House will release its information Friday. He declined to elaborate on his discussions with his brother.

Betcha the White House wishes Sestak could keep his mouth shut. But it may not matter much, the way his memory is going:

"Something happened last July, literally, hardly even remember it," Sestak said of the offer. "All of a sudden, in this interview, someone asked a question . . . and I answered it up front. But I immediately said the same thing I said to you and haven't deviated: Look, let's move on, the rest is politics."

Michelle Malkin has more.

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