Give Him a Chance

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"Allies describe Burris — the first black politician to win statewide office in Illinois — as a careful leader whose banking background made him more comfortable crunching numbers than delivering charismatic speeches from a lectern."

USA Today

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In spite of the problems he's been having lately, Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich went ahead and named his choice to replace Barack Obama in the Senate — attorney Roland Burris, the first black to win statewide office in Illinois.

But Burris may be denied the seat, according to Politico.com, which is reporting that Majority Leader Harry Reid will not seat Burris.

According to a statement from Reid, "There is much work to do and a lot at stake. It is thus critical that Illinois and every other state have two seated Senators without delay."

But Reid suggests that the fastest way for Illinois to fill the vacancy to everyone's satisfaction is for Blagojevich to resign and permit "his successor [to] appoint someone who we will seat."

Blagojevich has indicated repeatedly that he will not resign. And impeachment can take a long time. Blagojevich and his attorneys seem determined to settle in for a protracted battle, to fight every charge and contest every witness.

If Illinois has to wait until the matter is resolved before the Senate seat is filled, the voters might as well be prepared to wait until after the next election before they have two senators again.

There are only two years left on the term. Whoever occupies the seat, the voters will have their say in 2010.

Give him a chance.

Senate Seat for Sale

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"Who will buy this wonderful morning?
Such a sky you never did see!
Who will tie it up with a ribbon
And put it in a box for me?

"So I could see it at my leisure
Whenever things go wrong
And I would keep it as a treasure
To last my whole life long."

"Oliver!"
Lyrics by Lionel Bart

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Illinois' Rod Blagojevich isn't the only governor faced with a Senate vacancy to fill following the elections and the majority of the Cabinet appointments.

But he's the only one who's put a price tag on one.

The Blagojevich story becomes more sordid with each new telling. From coast to coast, everyone, it seems, is weighing in on the matter — and no one has anything good to say about it.

"If the world was roused by the sight from Chicago barely one month ago, hundreds of thousands of people streaming into Grant Park to celebrate the triumph of possibility over tainted history," writes Timothy Egan in the New York Times, "the arrest of Governor Blagojevich on a dark and drizzly Chicago dawn was quite the opposite image."

Egan's column carried the cryptic headline of "Roll Over, Abe Lincoln."

In a San Francisco Chronicle blog, Caille Millner wrote about an (unidentified) Illinois resident who "created a fake eBay account for the governor and put Obama's seat up for sale." Millner observed that the post was quickly removed by some alert eBay staffer but noted that "the stunt was the best response I've seen so far to this tawdry, crazy story."

I guess you have to keep a sense of humor. I don't know how the unemployed in Illinois are reacting to all this, but the Chicago newspapers are not amused.

"The governor must resign immediately," writes the conservative Chicago Tribune, whose parent company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Monday. "If he doesn't, the Illinois House should begin proceedings to impeach him, and to ask the Senate to try him."

The Chicago Sun-Times concurs. "Even if the governor were found not guilty of every accusation against him — and given the apparent weight of the evidence against him, we’re not taking any bets — the criminal charges would cripple his already limited ability to lead Illinois."

Therefore, the newspaper says, "If Gov. Blagojevich does not resign immediately, impeach him."

Just make sure, as Bob Barker (who turns 85 on Friday) would say, that the price is right.