Marathon Pundit: Obama vows to clean up Washington as president

Barack Obama represents Illinois in the Senate, one of the most corrupt states in the nation. In my home state, aldermen, judges, legislators, heck, even governors are sent to the "Big House" with numbing regularity. In a twisted sense of pride, many Illinoisan brag about our "achievements."

Yet Obama claims he is the man that can do what no president has ever done: Clean up Washington.

Democrat Barack Obama, who accepts special interest money and played poker with lobbyist pals as an Illinois lawmaker, acknowledged Thursday that he swims in "the same muddy water" that corrupts Washington, but he pledged to reform the system if elected president.

Presidential rival Hillary Rodham Clinton "doesn't recognize the problem," Obama told The Associated Press.