According to The Washington Post, disgraced former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich told Esquire magazine that he was a real guy among phonies and makes the claim that he was blacker than President Obama.

Blagojevich, referring to the president as "this guy," says Obama was elected based simply on hope.

"What the (expletive)? Everything he's saying's on the teleprompter," Blagojevich told the magazine for a story in its February issue, which hits newsstands Jan. 19.

"I'm blacker than Barack Obama. I shined shoes. I grew up in a five-room apartment. My father had a little laundromat in a black community not far from where we lived," Blagojevich said. "I saw it all growing up."

The White House refused to comment.

Unlike Harry Reid, Rod Blagojevich doesn't make anything that resembles a reasonable point, unless his point was that real Black people live in small apartments and have a corner on the footwear maintenance circuit.

In related news, starting this week, we'll be checking Black cards at our DC office. If you're Black and haven't shined shoes or have, at any point, had a residence with more than five rooms, your days are numbered. Believe it.