Perhaps because a member (or two) of his team did, in fact, have contact with Blagojevich and could end up getting implicated? Allah points out that Ed Rendell is blaming it all on being an amateur mistake. Uh huh. Because the word that comes to mind when you hear “Axelrod” or “Plouffe” is “amateur”.

Obama’s staff has declined to respond to even basic questions, like who is conducting the probe, how long it will take, what issues are being explored and whether they are working with federal investigators. Obama has promised transparency throughout his service and to divulge contacts his staff has had with Blagojevich’s office in the coming days. But his staff has locked down on inquiries in the meantime…

Emanuel is not a target of the probe, according to people who have been briefed on the investigation.

The two people spoke on a condition of anonymity because the criminal investigation is ongoing. One is a person close to Emanuel, who said he has been told by investigators that he’s not a subject of their probe…

Another question that Obama’s staff didn’t answer is how he knows that his office had no involvement if he had yet to gather all the facts about conversations they had with Blagojevich’s office. Speaking on the condition of anonymity, transition officials said they do not want to release any information on the internal review until it is completed.

And, as Allah points out, Obama’s approval rating still hasn’t been hurt by the scandal. Not a huge surprise, really. It’ll have to hit closer to him — ie. Emanuel officially implicated — before he sees much of anything.