Democratic Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. has been M.I.A. from the halls of congress for well over a month, in a self-imposed and unexplained indefinite leave of absence. Now Republican and Democratic lawmakers alike are running out of patience and saying it’s time for answers.
The congressman’s office made the announcement last week that a “serious” medical condition was behind Jackson’s absence and that he was undergoing treatment. But that generic explanation wasn’t enough to satisfy the constituents Jackson represents. Instantly, rumors of alcohol or drug use surfaced, but were immediately shot down. Officials from both sides of the aisle, including Sen. Dick Durbin, a Democrat and senior member of the Illinois congressional delegation, went public in urging Jackson to clear up what exactly has kept him from work since June 10th.
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| Sen. Dick Durbin |
“As a public official, there comes a point when you have a responsibility to tell the public what’s going on,” said Durbin. Jackson “will soon have to make a report on the physical condition he’s struggling with.”
“If somebody needs medical treatment, I’m as willing as anybody to give them time to heal. I hope he gets better,” Brian Woodworth, the Republican challenging Jackson for his seat in Illinois’ 2nd Congressional District, told Fox News. “For the voters, what’s frustrating is they want to hear what is going on. They don’t want to know where he’s hiding.”
Jackson has been absent from his House seat since June 10th and has missed 90 roll-call votes, including the Republicans’ failed move yesterday to repeal President Obama’s health care law in the wake of last month’s Supreme Court decision.
But late yesterday, an anonymous doctor associated with Jackson mysteriously surfaced and issued the following makeshift announcement:
“The congressman is receiving intensive medical treatment at a residential treatment facility for a mood disorder. He is responding positively to treatment and is expected to make a full recovery.”
Well, that explanation was vague at best. Is the congressman moody, depressed, suicidal? No one knows and no one’s talking. Stay tuned!
Whatever the case may be concerning Jesse Jackson Jr.(?), I can't believe that neither he NOR his staff were more savvy in having a credible explanation for his absence at the ready…smh.He (they) actually left it to the MEDIA and other politicians to fill in the blanks!?! Now THAT'S crazy.