Democrats misstepped in handling Burris matter: "WASHINGTON (AP) - Senate Democrats who thought they could push away Roland Burris misjudged the racial fallout, underestimated public reaction and wound up on shaky legal ground.
The blunders began when the Democrats, including President-elect Barack Obama, insisted they would not seat Burris as the Senate's only black member because the appointment came from a governor accused of trying to sell Obama' former seat.
On Wednesday, they all but admitted being outflanked by Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, praising Burris and suggesting he soon will be a senator.
Eight days ago, Obama and Senate Democratic leaders saw Blagojevich as so politically damaged that they announced they would reject anyone he appointed to finish Obama's term. Every Democratic senator signed a letter to the same effect.
Privately, key Democrats now admit they miscalculated from the start. They spent this week trying to backtrack and save face."
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This is the first article I have seen that states clearly what happened, and puts the President-elect right in the middle of it, where he really was. Now the Democrats are scurrying in all directions. The senators are trying to blame Jesse White, as though we are all so stupid that we don't remember what they said a week ago. Obama is pretending he never got involved, never took a position, and didn't see nuttin--which is so typical of his behavior as an Illinois politician that I am sure it is hard-wired into his brain. And no doubt Jesse White will come up with a different excuse in a day or so when he signs the certification of Burris' appointment.
1 comment:
The one I'm really surprised it is Obama, who has usually been very careful to consult his own law books and the minds of other lawyers before opening his mouth. However, the trainwreck is once again not confined to the Democrats; seems to me that the Illinois Republican rank and file, as personified by John Kass, is ranting and raving about a "cave in" to the governor and Burris, when in fact it's a realization that they got punked. Once again, the IL GOP doesn't know which planet it's on, much less how to win an argument.
If there's truly legitimate blame here, apart from the mental state of the governor, it's to be applied to the Illinois General Assembly for taking so long to start clipping the governor's wings. They had enough material to impeach even before the arrest, but no-one would even dare to press Blago water carrier Emil Jones over the past year. And then to waste three precious weeks to try to set it up so that Lisa Madigan could claim the credit? The mind boggles.
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