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It looked bad last week, it looked even worse on December 8. But today it feels more like much ado about Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s bad judgment than whether Roland Burris should be seated as the junior senator from Illinois.
I don’t buy into the antiquated logic that an African American should be appointed to the Senate seat, vacated by President-elect Obama. That feels too much like a desire to return to the comfortable but unproductive past that ironically represents the opposite of what Obama stood for as he ran, not only for the Senate but also the presidency.
Shouldn’t the standard be, who can best represent the state? And from a Democratic Party perspective, who can also mount the strongest reelection bid in 2012? Obviously the governor has blurred that standard.
I have personal questions about someone who would want to be appointed by the governor, but that has nothing to do with the process.
A larger view suggests that politics in Washington as well as Illinois is what’s driving a story that when we pull back the layers is a non-starter.
From all accounts Roland Burris is someone, who throughout his political career, has maneuvered without allegations of impropriety.
Given what we know about Blagojevich, there is a cloud of suspicion that would hang over anyone appointed by him at this point. But no one is convicted based on the perceptions of a cloud.
Because his paperwork was not in order, Burris, when he arrived to Washington, could not be sworn-in with the rest of Senate colleagues. Illinois Secretary of State, had not signed his credentials, his signature is required for the swearing-in process.
White’s failure to sign the document may very well be due to his belief that anyone appointed by the governor is disqualified. White did not feel that way when the governor set the date for Rham Emanuel’s congressional seat when he became Obama’s Chief of Staff.
If the governor is too corrupt to appoint someone to the Senate, why does he have the moral authority to select a date for an election to the House of Representatives?
So far, the governor is guilty in the court of public opinion—that’s all. No matter what we may think, Blagojevich is still the governor.
As Sen. Dianne Feinstein, chairwoman of the Senate Rules Committee, which judges the credentials of senators, said, “Does the governor have the power, under law, to make the appointment? And the answer is yes.”
Blagojevich’s fate lies somewhere between the courts and the Illinois Legislature, but not with this process. No one has charged that he’s broken any laws or that Burris has made some nefarious deal in order to secure the appointment.
As much as it may be disconcerting to some, Burris is the junior senator from Illinois and it does not help to have the leadership of Senate Democrats stand as the visible impediment to that democratic process.
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