US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald’s arrest of Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich on federal bribery and conspiracy charges certainly isn’t helpful to President-elect Barack Obama. Blagojevich's "political crime spree," according to Fitzgerald, included attempting to auction off Obama’s vacant US Senate seat to the highest bidder. For that and several other reasons, this scandal has the potential to do more than just embarrass the soon-to-be president.

Although there is no indication at this time that Obama or anyone around him did anything wrong, in the words of Lanny Davis, a special counsel experienced at damage control in the Clinton White House, "This is a huge distraction at the worst possible moment."

At the very least, the Blagojevich scandal reminds people of the question often asked by Obama’s opponents before the election. A question Obama thought was now behind him. How can he be the "change we can believe in” given the corrupt politics of the state from which he emerged?

It resurfaces Obama’s connections to the Chicago political establishment and his financial dealings with Tony Rezko, a major contributor to Rod Blagojevich's successful gubernatorial campaign, recently convicted on several counts of fraud and bribery.

It also highlights the connections to Chicago politics of two people close to Obama. Rahm Emanuel, the man Obama has named his White House Chief of Staff, cut his political teeth fundraising for Illinois campaigns. He's been close to Blagojevich and took his congressional seat in 2002. David Axelrod, Obama's chief political advisor, a political consultant based in Chicago and a close personal friend of Emanuel, worked with and advised Blagojevich on various political campaigns.

The point here is not guilt by association; only that Obama, Emanuel, and Axelrod are political players skilled in “the Chicago way.” They’ve survived and prospered in one of the most corrupt political environments in the country. That doesn’t necessarily mean that any of them are corrupt. It means that, out of necessity, they had to knowingly associate and work with corrupt politicians, like Blagojevich, and that frequently means looking the other way.

The danger for Obama and his people likely isn’t that they may have agreed, or suggested they might agree, to one of Blagojevich’s outrageous and illegal demands to influence his decision. A transcript of one of the governor’s wiretapped conversations indicates his four-letter-word anger at Obama because all the President-elect was willing to offer for appointing his favorite (Valerie Jarrett) to the Senate was “appreciation.” They knew Blagojevich too well to offer him anything more.

Potentially more damaging is what can happen once Fitzgerald empowers a grand jury and subpoenas everyone and anyone who can shed light on the affair. Fitzgerald likely will call both Rahm Emanuel and David Axelrod to testify. Anyone who testifies before a grand jury takes a risk. Just ask Scooter Libby. Recall that the only person Fitzgerald convicted of a crime in the Valerie Plame case was Libby, who was found guilty of obstruction and perjury in a grand jury investigation.

Building a complete case against Blagojevich could take months, dominating the headlines and the cable talk shows. Unless Blagojevich cuts a deal, and therein may lie further embarrassment or worse. If convicted, a likely prospect according to veteran Washington lawyer Bob Bennett, Blagojevich will spend a long time in jail. His wife Patricia is also at risk. To shorten his sentence and protect his wife he may, as Al Capone would say, sing like a canary. If he does, will the Chicago crowd in the Obama administration come through that unscathed?

Until all the facts are fully known reporters, pundits, and commentators will speculate, and the Obama administration will find itself on the defensive. The mainstream media, largely a cheering section for Obama during the campaign, now is anxious to demonstrate its impartiality reporting on a scandal that potentially involves the president’s men. Now that they’ve stopped rummaging through trash bins in Wasilla, Alaska, they have the time and resources to do the job.

Whatever the facts involving Obama or any of his people in the Blagojevich affair, no matter how innocuous, they need to get them out into the public domain as completely and soon as possible. The challenges facing America are enormous. President Obama and the country can ill afford to lose the energy and momentum this diversion will drain away if not nipped in the bud. In the end, however, even if Obama, Emanuel, Axelrod, et al remain unsullied by the investigation, Americans will have learned much more about the corrupt environment from which they emerged. The scandal will have diverted attention away from the agenda of change they were elected to pursue.