Jan 05 2009
Obama, Blagojevich, Burris, and Reid Together?
So much for one big happy Democratic family! A confrontation is raging from unexpected sources as embattled Governor Rod Blagojevich, Democrat from Illinois, exercised his state constitutional responsibility by appointing Roland Burris to fill President-elect Barack Obama’s vacant Senate seat. Of course, the fact that it is likely he will be impeached sometime next week does add a little intrigue to the appointment. You might ask why the Democrats in the Senate would not receive an African American former state Attorney General with open arms. The party line is because of the tainted appointment process from Blagojevich’s alleged attempt to sell Obama’s seat for financial political gain. The reality is that there are concerns that Burris could not win re-election in a general election. Because of yet another scandal in Illinois politics, they can’t have a special election because the political climate makes it likely a Republican would win. To make matters worse for the Democrats, Obama can’t comment because he wants to distance himself from Blagojevich, now another shady associate from his past and the possibility that some of Obama’s staff may have had some contact with the Governor during the seat for pay negotiations. The further the distance from him, the better. He may not be able to get far enough away. Time will tell.
If that weren’t enough, the soap opera gets more interesting because King Harry(Reid), Democratic majority leader of the Senate, has decided to not seat Burris if he does come to Washington. The fact that there is no legal precedent not to do so doesn’t seem to matter, the Democrats want an electable candidate in the seat for the next time around in Illinois. Ironically, the only people left out of the process are the registered voters of Illinois, who despite having to swallow the remarkable arrogance and embarrassment of their Governor, have no voice at all.
It looks like Mr. Obama has already delivered on his promise for change. But as is always the case, not all change is necessarily good.
My earlier blog affirms exactly what you have written. Reid, for his part, is alleged to have had at least four conversations with Blago about the appointment prior to Burris being picked. It was alleged that Harry didn’t want another African American in the position. Headline News reported that Reid was also seeking a bi-partisan solution. Imagine that. Reid better hope Blago doesn’t name him as being instrumental or compicit in his pay to play scheme.