Rep. Charles Rangel has been charged with 13 counts of violating House of Representatives ethics rules. It is thought that if he goes to trial, things would not go as well for him as it would if he agreed to a plea agreement – or resigned. If he resigns, presumably, no one outside the House would find out what he did wrong – if he did anything wrong.

“I think Charlie Rangel served a very long time and served  his constituents very well. But these allegations are very troubling,” said President Obama on an interview on CBS. “…he’s somebody who’s at the end of his career. Eighty years old. I’m sure that what he wants is to be able to end his career with dignity. And my hope is that it happens. ”

One cannot end one’s career with dignity with charges of corruption pending. Let us hope that in our new “transparent” Big Government, that all is put before public scrutiny and Mr. Rangel’s guilt or innocence can be learned. If he is innocent, then he will be able to end his career “with dignity”.

But maybe that is what President Obama meant.