Democrats blink on Burris

Roland Burris, the man tapped by embattled Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich to fill Barack Obama’s Senate seat, appeared headed for the Senate this week after Democrats reversed their once-solid opposition to his appointment. Democrats initially vowed to oppose any appointment by Blagojevich, who faces corruption charges and is expected to be impeached by the Illinois legislature this month. But after meeting with Burris, Majority Leader Harry Reid praised the former Illinois attorney general as “forthright,” and said he expected a resolution “sooner rather than later.”

Democrats had hoped the seat would remain open until Blagojevich could be replaced by Illinois’ lieutenant governor. But Burris, who is black, had promised a court battle if he were not seated, and some black leaders stressed that with Obama leaving the Senate, there would be no blacks in the chamber.

Reid did what he had to do, said Rick Klein in ABCnews.com. The turning point came when some fellow senators, including Dianne Feinstein of California, broke ranks and said Burris was qualified and deserved to be seated. Rather than let an obviously “messy” situation drag on, Reid “made it clear he’d gotten the message.”

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“Burris’ media strategy—appear everywhere and declare that the law is on your side—had backed Reid into a corner,” said Chris Cillizza in The Washington Post. Reid didn’t want to be in the “uncomfortable position” of barring an African-American whose only fault was the man who appointed him. And while Blagojevich has been accused of trying to sell Obama’s seat, Burris himself was never implicated in that scandal.

This entire circus could easily have been avoided, said Thomas Geoghegan in The New York Times. The Constitution makes it clear that Senate vacancies should be filled by special elections, not governors. Yet governors routinely exploit supposedly “temporary” appointments to substitute for democracy. If Burris–or Caroline Kennedy in New York, for that matter—wants to join the Senate, there’s a sure path: Forget the “backroom deals” and, instead, win an election.