In Illinois, the Ridiculousness Post-Racial Era Begins
By Daniel Strauss -
Jan 6th, 2009 at 11:14 am
There is so very much wrong with Roland Burris’s effort to get a Senate seat, the latest of which is visible in this press conference:
I’m particularly interested in two points: one is Burris’s argument that this is not about race and he’s not making it about race, and his claim that he isn’t tainting himself at all by associating with Rod Blagojevich.
On race, he basically started out his spectacle of a press conference by noting that Illinois has brought two black senators and two black congressmen to Washington. That’s not putting race to the side, that’s doing everything but saying that not seating Burris would be to “lynch or hang” an Illinois senator… metaphorically speaking. Burris said everything but that (Congressman Bobby Rush said that earlier, though). He kept race as a relevant topic–inasmuch as it’s relevant to getting himself seated.
Burris also said that he cannot control his supporters, which is true–politicians can’t always support what their supporters say or do. But Burris can at least say he doesn’t agree with what they’re doing and their opinions do not represent his own. He didn’t. In short, Burris wants to turn this into a race issue. He wants CNN and MSNBC to tape him being barred from entering the Senate by Harry Reid (who, yes, is white) and suggest to all watchers that this is not a “post-racial era” and we need to help black politicians who are being unfairly treated. It’s bullshit.
And on Blagojevich, Burris says associating with him does not suggest anything out of line. Come on. This guy (Blago) was trying to bribe the President-elect of the United States. Burris also has a history of helping Blagojevich along (if Burris did not enter the gubernatorial race that got Blago where he is today, Paul Vallas would be today’s Illinois governor), not to mention the fact that Burris has a habit of donating a fair amount of money to Blagojevich. And now Blagojevich is appointing Burris to senate. It stinks of foul play. Yes, Burris was Blago’s second choice but one wonders what he would be if the two didn’t have the history they do.
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