By Joel Thurtell
Wish I could pronounce his name, but gotta hand it to Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
The guv found a way to make Democrats and the U.S. Senate look like jerks.
Instead of resigning his office, as nearly everyone in and out of his political party has demanded, Guv Rod found a way to wave his middle finger at his detractors.
To fill the vacancy left by Barack Obama’s election to the presidency, he appointed not just a black man, but the first African American in Illinois history to win statewide office. Roland Burris, onetime Illinois attorney general, isn’t worried about taking an appointment from a tainted governor.
The key word is “governor,” in that Illinois’ chief executive is still the boss. He has neither resigned, nor has he been impeached.Under the law, he is duty-bound to appoint a successor to Obama.
Most importantly, he has not been convicted, despite flamboyant pronouncements from a hot-shot U.S. attorney. And an editorial harrumph from the New York Times surely won’t deter him or his enthusiastic appointee.
Still, Democratic senators are saying they won’t seat Burris.
Fancy that: The all-white Senate won’t let Burris, who is black, into their exclusive club.
Politicians have a hard time with the concept of due process.
So do newspapers.
You know, innocent until proven guilty and all that arcane constitutional stuff that always seems to get in the way of doing things quick and dirty.
It doesn’t look like the governor is going to back away from this. He seems to be reveling in his little joke. He’s put his detractors in the uncomfortable position of having on the one hand to keep up their respectable appearances by condemning the misbehavior they’ve all heard about from the prosecutor. But on the other hand, in the best of worlds, they’d no doubt like to do the politically correct thing and welcome a black into the Senate.
At the moment, it doesn’t seem like they can do both.
If the governor doesn’t back down, this one is headed for court.
But maybe the senators will be the ones to cave.
Here’s the thing: The Senate could use a black voice.
And it appears that Burris is qaulified. In fact, he’s well-regarded.
So why not seat him?
Maybe Blagojevich is bad. Maybe he’ll be convicted. Or maybe not.
Isn’t it possible, though, that this seemingly bad governor might have done a good thing?
Drop me a line at joelthurtell(at)gmail.com
