A besieged governor who makes a contested Senate appointment had better have strong allies, the yes men necessary to dot every “i” and triplicate the paperwork, or he’s going to run into trouble. Gov. Rod Blagojevich just found this out the hard way, having a dearth of allies who aren’t pushed to the point of ridiculousness by self-aggrandizing agendas. Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White, unswayed by Blago enabler Rep. Bobby Rush’s* playing of the race card with all the finesse of a berserker, refused to sign the paperwork that constitutes the credentials that would have lent some legitimacy to Roland Burris’ claim that he is his state’s newest senator. White’s stand was just the sort of shocking propriety that made it remarkably easy for the Democratic Senate to turn Burris away at the door.
Blago’s latest “fuck ‘em” is now wounded, though not mortally: Mr. Burris, whose opinion of himself is so high that he named his children Roland, Jr. and Rolanda, and whose yet-unfilled mausoleum is a paean to his own greatness, won’t be giving up without a lawsuit. In the meantime, the great embarrassment of the Land of Lincoln awaits indictment, with no plans to vacate his post. He must really be attached to the library in the governor’s mansion.
*Rush, it should be noted, may harbor a grudge against president-elect Barack Obama for unsuccessfully challenging his seat in the House of Representatives in 2000, and, following this train of thought to its natural conclusion, has no qualms about kicking sand in his eye every chance he gets.
