Mr. Burris Goes To Washington
The appointment of Roland Burris to Obama's
Senate seat is anything but a simple plan
January 6, 2009
By Monroe Anderson I missed the exact
moment when Barack Obama's vacant U.S. Senate post became a blacks only
seat. No one sent me an email declaring it was ours. Nor did anyone hit
up my cell or Facebook page. I didn't even get a tweet.
But, apparently, the
seat that once belonged to the president-elect now commands exclusive dibs from
black pols in Illinois, period. No whites need apply. Asians or Hispanics
shouldn't bother either.Rep. Bobby Rush said
as much. During Gov. Rod Blagojevich's news conference last week announcing the
appointment of Roland Burris to Obama's vacated seat, the Illinois congressman
from Chicago emerged from the press pool to commandeer the mike. "Let me
remind you that there presently is no African American in the Senate,"
Rush said, talking through the media to address state and national Democrats.
"I would ask you not to hang or lynch the appointee as you try to
castigate the appointer."And while the
appointer kept asserting during the news conference that it was all about the
appointee, I didn't quite buy it.I believe that it's
about Burris as the black appointee as much as it is about the red
herring to be introduced at the governor's jury trial. Blagojevich hasn't
been indicted yet, but the big money is betting that he will be come spring.
Anticipating the inevitable, the governor has hired Ed Genson, the high-priced
super lawyer who got R. Kelly off, as his defense attorney.When the trial begins,
the Burris appointment—if it plays out badly with the Democrats over the next
couple of days—may play well in Blagojevich's defense. Think O.J. If the
Senate Dems have a fit, denying the one seat vacated by an African American to
be filled by another, then any blacks on the jury may be sympathetic enough to
the governor to vote to acquit him—striking another symbolic blow against
institutional American racism.I know it sounds a
little far-fetched but so does the idea that a governor would try to sell the
U.S. Senate seat to the highest bidder. But it also sounds far-fetched
that in 21st-century America, blacks have no representation in the U.S. Senate,
while there are 13 Jewish Americans, three Hispanics and two Asians. It
is also outlandish that in this time of change, Democratic leaders would ignore
the law to play politics.Illinois State
Democrats are in a mad rush to impeach their defiant governor and U.S. Atty.
Patrick Fitzgerald is working overtime to indict him, but so far Blagojevich
has not been proven guilty of anything but having a filthy mouth. That
means the governor is lawfully empowered to appoint Burris, who is untouched by
any hint of corruption and unquestionably qualified to perform the duties of
the post.Thirty years ago,
Burris became state comptroller, the first black Democrat elected to statewide
office in Illinois. After three terms in that office, he was elected the
Illinois attorney general. Since then, he's become a lovable loser. He
has run three times for governor, and one time each for mayor and U.S. senator,
each time coming up empty handed.That's why Senate
Majority Leader Harry Reid and the Dems are doing so much hand wringing.
Although he denies it, Reid has been reported as
saying he did not want the seat to go to Representatives Jesse Jackson Jr.,
Danny Davis or state Senate President Emil Jones because he believes that none
of the three black men could win the statewide election in 2010.If the Democrats
insist on taking a bad situation and making it worse, it may be a moot point.
Secretary of State Jesse White, the highest-ranking black official in Illinois
right now, has refused to certify the Burris appointment. The Democrats
in the U.S. Senate insist that they won't seat Burris when he arrives at the
chambers today.They may want to
rethink that. Rep. Rush, a former minister of the Black Panthers who is
now a Baptist minister, Sunday night called the Senate "one of the last
bastions of plantation and racial politics in America," then warned that
the Senate Democrats who fight Burris' appointment are "going to ask for
forgiveness" from the black American voter.Hmmmm. Come to think
about it, that seat may need to be black after all.
Monroe
Anderson is an award-winning journalist who penned op-ed columns for both the
Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Sun-Times. Check out his blog at monroeanderson.typepad.com
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