The Roland Burris front

It seems that the news on the Burris front has been largely quiet on Friday. Things may have finally quieted down on whether or not he perjured himself in front of Illinois' House impeachment committee. In addition to as a result of amending his affidavits whether or not he should resign his Senate seat.

Personally while I agreed with any attempts to keep Burris out of the Senate early last month, I'd say since they backed down eventually I'd say we should let him go on and serve in the US Senate for the next year. I'm not sure that he would run for re-election next year especially since he accepted an appointment for our corrupt ex-Governor. Of course that's not to say that there aren't forces that want him to run next year.

I told you that I was amused that a post I found on a local blog found it's way as a major item over at the CapFax on Thursday. That post was heavily edited perhaps not long after it was shown there and there are two posts that I know of that have derived their posts from that heavily racialized post on that local blog, Chatham/Avalon Park Community Council.

I want to point out two of those posts this afternoon. First Archpundit springboards off of the comments made at the CapFax and discusses the blog in question. This statement caught my eye:

The stupid part of this is the notion that the only African American official who could win in 2010 is Burris.  Illinois has one of the best statewide records on electing African Americans.  He’s not the best nor the brightest right now.  I have some sense that those who could make a good run at the US Senate aren’t on Cobb’s shortlist however because they don’t pay fealty to the politics of those like Bobby Rush who while quite African American, is a corporate whore on many policies including telecommunications.

Yeah, that is the first thing I'm concerned about. It seems there are those who thinks Burris can survive this stigma that he is the Senator from Blagojevich. The fact that he was willing to accept this appointment is probably going to prove itself a problem and it doesn't matter who might want to line up in support of him.

Another blogger who took note of these comments bored now at Political Tracks:

That Roland Burris' public face is someone who is best known for her opposition of the president, someone eager to sow controversy, shows a lack of political judgment that will neither serve him -- or Illinois -- well. Delmarie Cobb may be eager to throw Barack Obama under the bus, but I haven't found a black voter who is willing to do so. By accepting this appointment from such a fatally flawed figure had already put Burris' political skills and judgment in doubt. Surrounding himself with people who clearly oppose this president only cements it. Roland Burris is too naive to be our senator.

Roland Burris needs to decide if he is standing with our new president or fighting against him. Delmarie Cobb's email suggests to me that she is using Burris as a means for tearing down Barack Obama. We have no indication that Burris is willing to stand with the president or his agenda, but we do have indicators that he and his campaign are eager to sacrifice Barack Obama for their own benefit. It seems to me that those very "black elected officials" who "stayed quiet and got on board" for Barack Obama are now basking in his limelight. Roland Burris faces an uphill battle to divide them from the president but it appears Delmarie Cobb is eager for the challenge. I'd say 'good luck with that,' but I don't really wish her luck. I -- and many others -- worked too hard to get Obama elected president to sacrifice him for Roland Burris. I'd much rather have a good man in the White House. I strongly suspect I'm not alone in that sentiment...

I forgot to mention, the blog post in question was a republished e-mails from a constituent of Freddrenna Lyle, 6th Ward Alderman. The Alderman herself seems to have sent that e-mail that Ms. Delmarie Cobb had sent to the Alderman. The e-mail that was copy-and-pasted on the CapFax was by Ms. Cobb herself.

It was noted by both bored now and Archpundit that she was the subject of some disparaging remarks from former state Senate President Emil Jones because she just simply wasn't on board for Obama and continued to support Hillary Clinton last year. In fact check out this post made about that story over at The Bench from last year.

I still find it unfortunate how racialized this story has become. The expectation is that we should support this appointment because Burris represented the only chance for blacks to have a black US Senator. The problem here and well it doesn't need to bear repeating this that the black candidate for US Senate accepted an appointment from a very fatally flawed figure as our former corrupt Governor  was.

It seems Burris is suffering the same treatment that he probably should have dished to the former Governor when he the Senate appointment was offered. He should have shunned it, even if this was to have been his last hurrah! He didn't  and he accepted the appointment and now he suffered the consequences of not getting a even a remote acknowledgement from the President at the state of the union address in addition to having to walk alone to the House chamber that night without nary a work from his Senate colleagues. Although he does support DC voting rights.

Let me just state, I'm not under the idea that Burris should resign. I'm not sure that he should until it's proven that he did anything wrong. I'm not sure that he did and perjury is said to be difficult to prove. The only thing that was suspicious is the fact that he had to even amend his affidavits. It's also bad that he accepted a hot-potato appointment but the damage is less criminal than it was political.

One more quote worth adding today:

U.S. Sen. Roland Burris said he tried to raise funds for former Gov. Rod Blagojevich but was not successful, therefore innocent. If I unsuccessfully robbed a bank, am I innocent?

If it's true that this had anything to do with his appointment then I would say that it wouldn't make him innocent. Especially if the intent was to buy a Senate seat. Still it has to be proven and I look forward to the findings. It's a mess!

BTW read this weekend's Burris Headlines posts over at The Sixth Ward.
March 1, 2009
February 28, 2009