Between Barack and a hard place: Blago picks a senator
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Between Barack and a hard place: Blago picks a senator
Let it be.
People are understandably outraged that Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich -- not far removed from his arrest on corruption charges amid allegations he wanted to sell his appointment to the U.S. Senate seat that Barack Obama is vacating -- went ahead and named someone anyway, after both national Democratic Party and state officials from Obama on down warned him not to. Blago's pick is 71-year-old Illinois career pol Ronald Burris, a one-time rival of the incumbent governor who is the state's former attorney general.
Political leaders in both Washington and Springfield have vowed to do everything in their power to block Blago and this block Burris.
But legally, they can't. They're better off letting Burris be a senator for two years.
After a landmark 1969 Supreme Court ruling, it's pretty clear that -- despite Harry Reid's bluster -- the Senate can only block Burris if he's not a qualified U.S. citizen (he is) or if he was improperly elected or appointed (he wasn't.) As for talk that the Illinois secretary of state would not certify his appointment, that, too, is a power he does not have. Yes, the idea that Blagojevich is appointing a senator after he was arrested for trying to sell the same seat is an affront to political decency.
But if the Senate tries not to seat him, our nation's leaders will be squandering valuable time and money on a legal fight they cannot win. And the battle over Burris wouldn't just overshadow the new administration's efforts to get the economy moving again. The world community, after seeing a sliver of its faith in America restored in recent days, will be appalled to watch a bunch of mostly white guys trying to keep the only African-American (now that Obama has resigned) from joining their club.
Or they can let it be.
And then the Democrats can do three things:
1) Count on Sen. Burris as a solid vote for economic recovery and other legislation that's needed to move the nation forward-- but count on him for little or nothing else. Make Burris the 1-800-Safe-Auto of U.S. senators, offering the him the legislative equivalent of the minimum coverage allowed under the law.
2) Begin searching for a 2010 Senate candidate who is not named Roland Burris and rally behind him or her as early as possible. There's obviously no special mandate that the new candidate be an African-American (Burris' appointment would mean that Illinois has sent 3 blacks to the Senate since the 1990s, while the other 49 states combined have sent a grand total of....zero), only that it be the most qualified person.
3) Begin working immediately on the 28th Amendment to the Constitution, which would strip the power of filling Senate vacancies from governors and give that job to the voters, where it belongs. We now hold special elections for every vacant House seat, after all. Yes, statewide elections are costly -- but the current system's cost to democracy is greater. And the election of U.S. senators has been a constantly evolving process in this country, anyway.
Until the beginning of this century, most senators were not chosen directly by the voters but indirectly by state legislators, creating the easily manipulated boss-ruled legislative body that condoned the 19th Century big-money abuses of the Gilded Age (sound familiar?). It required the 17th Amendment in 1913 to ensure that senators were directly elected by the people of each state.
In recent weeks, we've seen several examples of the folly -- in a nation that rightly cherishes its checks and balances -- of handing unchecked power to one person. We've seen the sad spectacle of President Bush pardoning a major GOP donor and then trying frantically to unpardon him, and now we've seen a criminally charged governor making a Senate appointment.
You have to wonder why a nation that was founded in rebellion against monarchy would have granted such broad authority in the first place. But you have to wonder more why we have not used our Constitutional tools to limit them or take them away.
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Hey, batty, this might keep you occupied. Did you know 666 was a winning lottery ticket last year in Illinois? Or that 60606 is a Chicago zip code? Ooooooh...- Yeah sure, Beeps.
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Wall Steet's fear index dropped below 40 today. All you lefties out here can start taking credit. Also, 6/6/06 was the day that Obama emerged from a lava flow on the big island. Right?— A Friend- Comment removed.
- Batty, let's. I hear the "kids" are getting 6 figures for pix of the little b*st*rd. So much for wanting their privacy, eh?
- "A seller named "dixpea" placed what is purported to be Illinois Sen. Barack Obama's half-eaten breakfast from his Monday visit to the Gilder Diner in Scranton, Pennsylvania up for auction on eBay this week, with a suggested bid of over $10,000." blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2008/04/obamas-half-eat.html...Which one of you, msl or TPS, bought this?— E Plebnista
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- Plebby, let go my eggo? Some quick google detective work found Rob Dunbar living in Asheville NC as the successful bidder. Alas, he ain't this mountain man. Anyways, it's kinda sacrilegous to bid on the messiah's leftovers, don't you think?
- SENATOR FUMO UNAVAILABLE FOR COMMENT..— pookie
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- It's very funny (and telling) that Will in his comments on a purely Democrat scandle, one of the worst and overtly corrupt in US history, he only mentions Democrats in a positive way... in what Democrats can do to clean up the mess, as if the mess happened by chance or that Democrats stumbled across it and now must fix it, he doesn't mention that Democrats caused and perpetuate the mess. The "Governor" did it, "Political Leaders" are overstepping their authority, etc. etc. And true to liberal media form after going out of his way not to mention the Democrat party in the negative he manages to blame Bush for something unrelated and, of course, remind everyone that it involves the "GOP". At least you are consistent Will, if consistently unfair and biased...— 24601
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