Did the Obama Team Sink Rush's Rams Bid?

I was reading the transcript on what Rush said happened the whole "Buying the Rams" debacle and came across this part.

DeMaurice Smith, the executive director of the Players Association is an Obamaite. He's donated to Obama. He is a Washington lobbyist at Patton Boggs, and I think he even served on Obama's transition team. He has no experience in professional sports. The National Football League's agreement, collective bargaining agreement with the players expires soon. Next year, the salary cap -- if they don't get a new deal done, next year the salary cap -- will go away. And after that, there is a fear that the owners -- who think they're giving up too much of the gross in salary, compensation to the players -- might lock them out, a work stoppage. This is something that the Players Association doesn't want, obviously.

That part about being on Obama's transition team jumped out at me. So I checked and sure enough DeMaurice Smith was a member of the Obama Justice and Civil Rights Team. I wonder if it is much of a stretch to say that this guy called up Goodell and Irsay and got them to boot Rush out of the ownership group before they even made a bid?

Rush sees Smith's involvement as part of the gamesmanship between the Ownership Group and the Players Union that may include a lockout of the 2011 season. So Rush thinks this was a warning shot fired by the Players Union across the bow of the owners. Kind of like how Putin attacked Georgia which was actually a warning shot to American meddling in their sphere of influence.

However, the conspiracy angle came out when I was thinking about how many of the NFL owners are pretty staunchly conservative. All together they gave $600,000 to GOP PACs and 527s in 2008. I mean the Woody Johnson the Jets Owner gave $70,000 to the McCain campaign alone.

So this just felt like a White House revenge play pure and simple. Axlerod or someone in the White House called up their pal who is the head of the NFL Players Union and he pressured Goodell to not even consider Rush's money. I mean Rush's involvement with the team would pretty much have been standing around in the owners box with Dave Checketts sharing a few brews during a game. How is that tarnishing the NFL brand?

Now when 2011 rolls around I wonder how many White House cannons will suddenly turn on these "far-right extremist" NFL owners? It is all speculation but after the White House showed how petty and mean-spirited they were when it came to Fox News it isn't a huge stretch to see them going after the right-wing NFL Owners. I am now counting down the days until Jimmy Carter calls Jerry Jones a racist.