To hear Democratic leaders in the US Senate hailing today’s scheduled swearing in of Roland Burris as the junior senator from Illinois you’d never know that these are the very senators who only a week ago were swearing that he would never set foot on the Senate floor.
By way of reminder, however, here’s the public statement Democratic leaders issued when Illinois Gov Rod Blagojevich announced that he was appointing Burris to fill the seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama. (And it is noteworthy that, in a rare display of rash judgment, Obama publicly endorsed this statement):
Under these circumstances anyone appointed by Gov. Blagojevich cannot be an effective representative of the people of Illinois and, as we have said, will not be seated by the Democratic Caucus of the Senate.
By contrast, here’s what I wrote in a commentary on this controversial appointment:
In a move as socio-pathetic as it was politically strategic, beleaguered IL Gov Rod Blagojevich appointed former State Attorney General Roland Burris, 71, to fill Obama’s Senate seat… [Nevertheless] legally speaking, Blagojevich’s move is unassailable; and politically, it is shrewd – if only for the vexing dilemma it presents to his detractors. Therefore, I predict Burris will serve.
[Mr Burris comes to Washington, The iPINIONS Journal, January 9, 2009]
Enough said?!
Except that, even though I argued in my January 9 commentary that Burris would be a fool to agree not to run in his own right in 2010 (i.e., as a precondition imposed by Democratic Senators before being sworn in), I think he would be a fool to run. After all, Burris has become so reviled in Illinois that he would be lucky to win the Democratic primary (especially against the black congressmen who rejected Blagojevich’s offer on principle), let alone win a statewide race.
Indeed, when he turned out to be the only politician opportunistic enough to accept this tainted appointment by the patently corrupt Blagojevich, Burris reminded everyone in Illinois why he lost the four political races he entered over the past decade, including one for governor against Blagojevich.
Therefore, I urge Burris to bask in all of the glory he can grasp over the next two years. And his glory would be greatly enhanced if he were to announce within six months that, at 71, he thinks it would be best to pass the torch to a younger politician in 2010 to represent Illinois with all of the vigor it deserves. He could then retire gracefully….
Related commentaries:
Mr Burris comes to Washington
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