Dem Aide: Obama Team Pushed To Seat Burris

The apparent decision to seat Roland Burris came after aides to President-elect Barack Obama contacted senior Senate Democrats and suggested that they reverse course and accept Gov. Rod Blagojevich's controversial appointment, according to a senior Dem congressional aide.

Just minutes after the decision to seat Burris was reported, Obama offered the veteran Illinois pol praise and promised a working relationship.

"That is a Senate matter," he said of the news. "But I know Roland Burris, obviously he is from my home state. He is a fine public servant, if he gets seated then I am going to work with Roland Burris like all other senators to make sure that the people if Illinois and the people across the country are served."

Confusion remains as to what will happen with Burris. While reports signaled his imminent seating, a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said the AP report was "wrong," and that "there have been no decisions."

Later, at a press conference following a meeting with Burris, Reid praised Blagojevich's pick as "candid" and "forthright," but said the Senate is waiting for a court to rule whether the signature of the Illinois secretary of state is needed for Burris to take the seat.

"One of the first things he said to us was, 'Hey, this is nothing racial, do you understand that?'" Reid said. "A lot of people tried to make this a racial issue. Roland Burris has not, and will not."

"We're going to do the best we can to make sure the State of Illinois has two Senators, and not one Senator," Reid said.

Burris would have a curious role to play in the upcoming Congress. Already viewed a bit dubiously, he could be a critical vote on legislative matters. There is surprisingly little information on his policy positions at hand. But one would have to assume that he won't deviate much, if any, from Obama or the Democratic majority -- certainly not after the party seated him without a legal fight.

Comments

[weeklyworldnews]

04:57 PM on 01/08/2009

Burris...

wtf?! ha - Burris...a­nd Obama? weird...

http://www­.weeklywor­ldnews.com­/politics/­burris-and­-obatma-cr­y-together­/

[GravitonX]

12:09 PM on 01/08/2009

Alot of people took the Republican­'s bait and got worked up, Blagojevic­h was "investiga­ted" by one of the most politicize­d Justice Department­s in history. I'm not saying that Rod Blagojevic­h will or will not be found to have done something, but he is certainly not on the 1st or 2nd page of the "perp" list the Feds should be trotting out in public.

[InspiredByTruth]

03:04 AM on 01/08/2009

I think all of you are missing something.­..the original refusal to not seat Burris was intended to be SYMBOLIC. He would have eventually been seated anyway. There was nothing legal that justified refusing to seat him permanentl­y. The fact that this is being done almost 2 weeks before the inaugurati­on and not during the fight with the rethugican­s over the stimulus bill is a GOOD THING.

[Promise]

01:44 AM on 01/08/2009

From everything I've read about Burris and his behavior in the past few days, it seems to me that he is not someone I want to see in the Senate. There have been many posts here from people in Illinois who say what a lightweigh­t, at best, Burris is. That's putting it kindly. Obama surely knows the guy and his first reaction was not to seat him. You have to wonder why Obama changed his mind? Pressure from Blacks? If Burris had been White....t­hen what? Is it worth having a vastly underquali­fied in the Senate just because he has the right skin color? Isn't this called "racism?"

[InspiredByTruth]

02:55 AM on 01/08/2009

Talking to yourself in the dark?

[elimenez]

11:57 PM on 01/07/2009

Obama should have stayed out of this. This is going to cause him great heartburn in the coming months. This is a dividing issue. He should have let the senate decide the outcome.

[Promise]

01:36 AM on 01/08/2009

I totally agree.

[InspiredByTruth]

02:58 AM on 01/08/2009

Lets see. We have 2 weeks before Obama has to battle the rethugs over the stimulus bill (or as I call it, the "Depressio­n Prevention bill"). In what way does a sideshow (that keeps the blago fiasco in the headlines) benefit Obama, the Dems, or the stimulus bill? Its not like he wouldn't eventually be seated anyway.

[SpectCon]

11:19 PM on 01/07/2009

Isn't there a Democratic doctor who will do the considerat­e thing and write this guy an Rx for some artificial testostero­ne???

Please help us all! (Perhaps you could make a mass Rx for the whole Democratic Senate???

[sbrown80]

10:15 PM on 01/07/2009

The American people elected Bush and Blajocovic­h. Blajocovic­h appointed someone w/out half the taint we have in Washington­, and we're still not satisfied because he's not well known. Burris is a fighter. He refused to be pushed around by Washington insiders. I would think that's what Americans would want. But we're so use to our big time, corrupt politician­s that we can't accept a no name like Burris. There's a reason why he's a no name. Bush, Rove and Blajocovic­h is big name.

[sbrown80]

10:12 PM on 01/07/2009

Ok! And let's dig up some things about HRC, Caroline Kennedy, Reid, Pelosi, all of the Republican­s...darn even Obama. If you're trying to get the messiah to run for office, sorry he's busy in heaven.

If that's all you can find on Burris, it's a heck of a lot better than the criminals we have in Washington­.

Try again!

[Skiwee]

09:56 PM on 01/07/2009

Burris' Lobbying partner is a member of the board of the Christian Industrial League, which hired Blago's wife Patti this September. Her salary? $80,000 a year.

Things that make you go hhhhmmmmm!­!

[rock2casbah]

11:26 PM on 01/07/2009

That's all!!!! Keep digging. This guy has been around politics in a dog eat dog environmen­t for decades without a speck on his reputation­.

You are going to have to come up with better than that.

[Graywolf48]

09:54 PM on 01/07/2009

Okay, just another case where Obama was against it before he was for it. And Harry Reid is one of Bush's greatest enablers. He talks tough but always seems to let his alligator mouth overload his canary a$$. Now Reid thinks that the great war hero from Alaska, disgraced fellow Senator Stevens, should be spared jail or any other punishment because "Steven's has suffered enough". Reid needs to go. I certainly hope the people of Nevada dump his sorry butt when he runs in 2010. I know his fellow Senators will never replace him as Senate leader, just like the House kept the other Bush enabler, Pelosi, on the job. This Congress, Democrat and Republican alike is nothing more than a den of ineffectiv­e weasels and thieves. I can't help but get the feeling we won't be seeing very much in the way of change. So far it seems to be heading towards business as usual.

[nomobull]

10:52 PM on 01/07/2009

WHY BECAUSE YOU AND THE MSM SAY SO . TRYING READING WHAT HE SAID NEXT TIME.

[SpectCon]

11:17 PM on 01/07/2009

He has Reid pegged, sorry to say.

[rock2casbah]

11:27 PM on 01/07/2009

Don't try and broad brush everyone with the taint of Bush and the GOP. It's pathetic and cowardly.

[Graywolf48]

12:37 PM on 01/08/2009

Reid and his Democrat wusses are the real cowards. Aside from Feingold, give me a list of courageous Democrats in this Congress and their accomplish­ments. Who stood on principle against Bush and his GOP thugs? Certainly not that old maid school marm Reid.

[GJR227]

09:45 PM on 01/07/2009

Reid is a joke.

[Captain Pass]

09:40 PM on 01/07/2009

Absolutely disgusting­. At least the Repugs develop a strategy and stick to it. Here the Democrats have simply caved to special interest politicks. Next to having Warren speak at inaugurati­on, this does not bode well.

[SpectCon]

09:30 PM on 01/07/2009

Because of Reid's weakness, the party with 41 seats controls the legislatio­n of this country.

We don't even know if the GOP can get a filibuster together. The GOP has to ALL stay together and filibuster­. Snow, Specter, McCain...t­he GOP can only have a single cross over to even possibly stop legislatio­n and yet they OWN Reid.

And why shouldn't they own him when disgraced Blago just schooled him?

[Graywolf48]

10:07 PM on 01/07/2009

I find it fascinatin­g that whether they're in the minority or the majority the Republican­s always seem to get their agenda through. Reid is a joke, a weak sister who has done little to stop Bush or further a Democratic agenda. He's really worse than Tom Daschle and I thought Daschle was as bad as it could get. The Republican­s are certainly more effective legislator­s than the Democrats. It's just a shame that the Republican agenda favors the rich and powerful at the expense of the majority of America's citizens. I think most Democrats in Congress need testicle transplant­s, there's hardly a good pair among the whole lot of them.

[SpectCon]

11:05 PM on 01/07/2009

Sure seems that way with Reid as the standard bearer.

[HeavyHitter]

09:05 PM on 01/07/2009

Obama was right the first time. Burris is a pathetic loser who never could have been a Senator on merit. No self-respe­cting person would have accepted an appointmen­t from Blago.

[Freedomscap]

09:13 PM on 01/07/2009

Obama supported Burris in his primary race against Blago.

[MorningJoeMikaIsMarried]

09:50 PM on 01/07/2009

Which still aint saying much

[XME]

09:04 PM on 01/07/2009

I don't care for Burris (wants the job far too much), but Obama gets that in the grand scheme of things, they've got much bigger fish to fry and they need to move on.

[SpectCon]

09:27 PM on 01/07/2009

I agree, Burris just means losing one Democratic Senate seat (of course it may prove to be the one that stops us from getting to 60 and saving us during the Second Great Depression­). But hell, odds are we won't be looking at Dem gains in 2 years, so the seat probably won't matter. I don't like that risk myself (or the risk that Burris turns out to criminally involved with Blago) but it probably won't matter.

What we have to care about is Reid effing this up. You seat the guy or don't. You don't let him come and make a circus appearance at the Senate and then give him what he wants.

Reid was played by Blago, is that who we want running the Senate (the bottleneck holding back change)>>>­??

Demand your Democratic Senator oust Reid from his Majority spot, before he messes up again.

Reid is the guy who's never made the GOP filibuster­. EVER.

[nomobull]

10:55 PM on 01/07/2009

LAST I HEARD IT WAS GOING TO COURT