"Roland Burris is a good man and a fine public servant, but the Senate Democrats made it clear weeks ago that they cannot accept an appointment made by a governor who is accused of selling this very Senate seat. I agree with their decision, and it is extremely disappointing that Governor Blagojevich has chosen to ignore it. I believe the best resolution would be for the Governor to resign his office and allow a lawful and appropriate process of succession to take place. While Governor Blagojevich is entitled to his day in court, the people of Illinois are entitled to a functioning government and major decisions free of taint and controversy."
Now, in today's presser, he says:
Which is basically tantamount to him saying "get this over with, plz." But I can't really see what changed in the past week. It should have been clear to a former constitutional law professor that a motion for denying Burris was on shaky ground. It should have been equally clear to someone savvy in Illinois politics how Burris planned to approach this (i.e., unyieldingly), and how Blago was pulling the strings on Reid and the Senate Democrats from behind the scenes. Obama's team knows the media has a huge hard-on for this story, and that it was just going to keep fanning its flames as long as it remained unsettled.
"I know Roland Burris," Obama said. "I think he's a fine public servant. If he gets seated, then I'm going to work with Roland Burris just like I worked with all the other senators to make sure that the people of Illinois and the people of the country are served."
Perhaps, though, this was part of the Obama-Reid plan to begin with. Come out against it at first to absolve yourself of responsibility. Then, when everything hits the fan, throw your hands in the air and bow to the call of "getting past the drama" in time for the inauguration. The "taint" of Burris is now not perceived as a problem of Obama's, as he "tried" to fight the appointment against a stubborn governor, but in the end, deemed it not a good use of political capital. Maybe Reid is some type of secret genius?
