Obama played best Burris hand he had

January 11th, 2009 · No Comments

by Frank James

David Broder highlights in his Sunday column what he views as early missteps by the Obama presidential transition team — the misbegotten Bill Richardson nomination, President-elect Barack Obama’s initial opposition to Roland Burris’s appointment to fill the Senate seat Obama once occupied.

The dean of the Washington press corps concludes, based on the Burris drama, that not only did Obama blunder on Burris but that Obama may be learning he can’t count on his allies in Congress as they learn they can’t count on him.

Noting that Obama backed off his opposition to Burris once the handwriting was on the wall, that is, once it became clear that Burris had the law on his side and planned to use it, Broder ends by writing:

Obama justifiably figured that Burris was not worth a knockdown fight when he has so many bigger battles ahead of him. But the lesson that other politicians have drawn is that Obama may not always be able to count on his congressional allies and they may not be able to count on him. That is not the way he wanted to begin.

While the incomplete vetting that led to Richardson’s nomination was clearly a mistake, it’s unclear, at least from my vantage point on the sidelines, that Obama’s handling of the Burris matter falls into the same category.

Also, as Broder knows better than just about anyone else, most politicians, even before they get to Washington, have learned that loyalty is situational in politics. They already knew this about Obama. He already knew this about them. Harry Truman said it best: If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog.

Anyway, there were so many crosscurrents and counter crosscurrents in the case of the missing U.S. senator from Illinois, the best thing Obama could do was to stay out of the water as best he could for fear of being pulled under. He did just that. Some might call that success.

There was the original act that triggered the crisis, the arrest of Gov. Rod Blagojevich for allegedly trying to auction Obama old Senate seat to the highest bidder among other charges.

Obama was immediately soaked by that wave since there were immediate questions about his team’s contacts with Blago or his people.

There weren’t many and the few there were were benign, according to the report by Obama’s lawyer, Greg Craig. But because of the taint surrounding the whole sordid matter, the best course for Obama was to dry off and thereafter keep his distance as much as possible.

Then there was the crosscurrent of Illinois law which requires the governor to fill an empty Senate seat whether he’s been arrested or not. Presumably, Blago could have even made the appointment from the back of the FBI vehicle that took him into custody.

After Blago’s arrest, just about every Democratic politician near a microphone, including Obama, said the governor lacked the moral standing to make the appointment and urged him not to.

That included Sen. Harry Reid, the Senate Majority Leader, and Sen. Dick Durbin, the Senate Majority Whip and Illinois’s senior senator.

Among the possibilities you’d have to be worried about if you were Reid and Durbin would be that anybody Blago appointed would make an easy target for Senate Republicans. It would not only increase Republicans’ chances of winning the seat in 2010 but it would give them a poster boy for charges of Democratic corruption to boot.

Even the governor appeared to be leaning against such an appointment since his own criminal-defense lawyer Ed Genson said Blago wouldn’t be naming anyone.

But Blagojevich must be an ancient Serbian word for loose cannon. Of for a guy who takes his opportunities when he sees them.

So, as Broder noted, Illinois lawmakers gave Blago the opening he needed to appoint Burris by rejecting a special election, partly for fear that a Republican could win the seat.

It was brilliant Blagostroke since it created a tributary off the main river of controversy that would compete with Blagogate for attention.

It also made it possible for some black leader to enter the stage to play the race card and Rep. Bobby Rush gladly obliged, insisting that Burris would keep at least one black person in the 100-member Senate. The Rush crosscurrent slammed into the Reid crosscurrent, further roiling the waters.

Blago-Burris was really a no-win for Obama and for the people of Illinois, save for Burris and his family, friends and fans.

When faced with such a situation, the best you can hope to do is limit the damage. And that’s about what Obama did.

Source: Obama played best Burris hand he had