chicagodads

I think that the topic of Roland Burris being appointed to Obama’s old senate seat by on-his-way-out Gov. Blagojevich is timely if not because of the appointment itself, then because of all the hubbalabolla swirling around it.A lot of pundits and people-of-the-street (and I include the inspiration for this, my wife and another friend) are suggesting that Burris - an old also-ran in Illinois politics - is an idiot for accepting Blagojevich’s appointment. They point to the fact that Blag is bad, that he tried to sell the seat to the highest bidder, that members of Congress said they will use their Constitutional powers to overturn that decision and refuse his appointment (whomever that may be), that Burris is a pawn in the game of life, that blah, blah, blah…

To be honest, none of that matters. Blags picked his man before he was indicted. From most accounts, he picked an honorable man, a good politician who’s been unlucky in the polls for the last decade and a half (he lost runs for mayor [of Chicago, of course] and governor since the nineties, but became the first black statewide elected official and was state AG for several terms) who is largely controversy-free and will most likely remain unblemished by any actual wrong-doing or unethical practices here. Also, although I’m no expert on Constitution, law, or anything along those lines, there appears to be no precedent nor any law that would allow for Congress to not seat the new appointee. I think their case would be strong if they could accuse Burris of bribing, extorting, leaning, etc. But if that’s not the case, then they probably shouldn’t - and probably won’t - filibuster.

My perspective is that the Senate is just talking out of its self-righteous arse simply because the media and the public are inflamed about this embarrassment that is Roderick Blagojevich and all his trappings. When the heat dies down, they really won’t care.

It was a shrewd political act of G-Rod; that’s all. It was the same thing that our last ill-fated gov did before ending his term: one good deed (in the case of Head-Convict Ryan, questioning the validity of Illinois’ death penalty system by commuting all death row sentences) to give his name a good rep and allow the possibility that maybe he’s redeemable after all. It doesn’t change facts about Blagojevich, but we shouldn’t crucify an innocent man because of bad associations, but rather by bad actions and decisions.