Well, the apple didn't fall far from the tree, did it? In fact, wasn't there a little Phil Mickelson 60 degree wedge back spin on that golden delicious as it landed? Jesse Jr. seems to have been born with an inherent disrespect for ethics and a sharp desire to work the edges and cracks of the system. This apple's DNA easily traced to the tree.

The Jesse Jackson Jr. narrative proceeds thusly. He was tempted with the campaign money to live the large life. We are told he is human and that the temptation to which he yielded could have snared any one of us. He bought a Rolex watch and other items. Who got hurt? By the end of the tale Jesse becomes the mere victim of understandable desires and a mysterious mental condition. It could happen to anyone.

But is this not the old shell game of surrendering to the lesser of a choice of criminal prosecutions? Recall back in June of 2012, Jackson's "bipolar" condition was revealed within a week of his old friend Raghuveer Nayak being arrested on federal fraud charges involving Nayak's surgical centers. Recall also that Nayak was at the center of the U.S. Senate seat scandal that sent former Gov. Rod Blagojevich to prison. Nayak confessed to federal investigators that Jesse Jackson Jr. asked him to raise campaign money for Blagojevich. The House Ethics Committee had begun investigations into allegations that Nayak was Jackson's soldier, and had offered Blagojevich up to $6 Million in campaign cash for the empty Illinois Senate seat.

Then Jesse got bipolar. The release of his condition and his leave of office was announced June 10, 2012. But coincidental to his illness and leave of office was the Nayak storytelling sessions before the feds. "Sources with knowledge of the probe told the Chicago Sun-Times that investigators believe Jackson had learned of the federal scrutiny of his financial activity prior to his June 10 leave from Congress."

It is then that Jesse placed his hand to head and declared, "I have a headache."

Why didn't the federal investigators step down due to the friendship of Chicagoan Barack Obama and the Jackson family? The prosecution of the lesser crime may be part of the answer. It does not take much imagination to envision a short prison stint and a reentry into the world of public service for the not so honorable Jesse Jackson Jr..