I certainly hope that Blago’s gambit fails, but I think it’s going to be very hard for Reid to exclude Burris and Obama won’t want to help him out any more than he did with today’s statement.
That statement is really very soft—the words of a man who doesn’t want to get more involved. He says basically that Burris is a fine man; the Senate should handle this; and Blago should resign and let someone else make an appointment.
There is nothing there to stop the likes of Bobby Rush in his tracks. Burris already did some TV interviews, making the case plausibly that he’s not tainted and Illinois needs two Senators. The next move will be an orchestrated effort to get Illinois Black ministers, aldermen, community leaders, rank and file Chicago Democrats to support Burris. While Rush is not going to sweep Capitol Hill before him, he’ll be able to announce the support of a series of Black members of the House (I can think of six off hand who will chime in). How the “narrative” surrounding this will develop is not yet clear. The Obama-struck media will want to cover for Obama, not Reid, so Reid may find that Obama doesn’t give him any stronger statements in the days ahead.
I’ve been commenting on this issue all along on my blog at:
http://thepurplecenter.blogspot.com/
Everyone is welcome to join in the discussion there.
