I would have agreed with this when it seemed as if Black folk had lost their chance with a possible appointment of Jesse Jackson, Jr.

But, the actual appointment of Burris has shifted things.

This is all about ethnic politics.

Michael Madigan is the Chair of the Democratic Party of Illinois. Folks believe he sent out Jesse White to do his bidding. When I call him Massa Madigan, I'm not just saying it to be saying it.

He's been fighting Blago for years becuase he wants his mediocre John Burge defending daughter as Governor. Now that it's been revealed that she fought against bringing Burge to justice for the past five years, that's a new racial molotov cocktail into the electoral mix that WILL reveal itself in the next election cycle.

I was criticized for being a ' bigot'. I find it hard to understand how explaining the racial politics of the city and state I've lived in my entire life, from a Black perspective, makes me a bigot.

I'm a 30 something, well-educated Black professional. I've been into politics ever since the run of Harold Washington. This stuff is so mild compared to that. This is child's play, compared to ' back in the day'.

I think the poster is wrong about the ' now or never' appeal. It's the 'stop them before they do even more' appeal.

But, race and politics go hand in hand in Chicago. Always have.

Where is there evidence of this? A link please. Thanks.

I'm part of a white, affluent, northwest side family and crowd. We're prime sources of liberal guilt, especially 'cause we think we can make up for the previous generations that kept electing Daley Sr. despite (or maybe BECAUSE of) the fact that he segregated the city. And none of us are defending the move. None of us are really outraged, either, mind you- at this point, all the governor's actions just fall into a general malaise of insanity.

And that general malaise is key- Blago is so singularly corrupt and crazy, that we can't really put his moves in terms of identity politics anymore (and the white liberal guilt rather naturally considers identity politics, just pointed in a different direction). What's worse, Rush's theatrics are making us agree with the Bungalow Belt dwellers in the previous generations, and I, for one, HATE agreeing with my grandparents.

Either way, they aren't gonna get the "Lakeshore Liberal" support they need.

For the record, I haven't spoken to anyone - black or white - who isn't exasperated and scornful of Rush's attitude. I have yet to find anyone who doesn't echo TNC's niggah please!

Out of her hands
TORTURE | Madigan accused of handing cases off, dodging 'moral responsibility'
December 22, 2008
BY JOHN CONROY AND MAURICE POSSLEY
Special to the Sun-Times

After five years of fighting to keep Chicago Police torture cases from being reopened, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan is seeking to shift responsibility for a handful of the remaining cases to the Cook County state's attorney's office.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/1342848,CST-NWS-burge22.article

Also, it is just plain insulting to me to think that Rush or anyone else believed that having a corrupt governor facing fraud charges revolving around trying to sell a senate seat for personal profit is the only way for an African American to obtain that seat. It's also insulting to me to think that the appointment by a corrupt governor is the only way "stop them before they before they do even more." If White is doing Madigan's bidding (by rikyrah's theory), how do we know that Burris won't be doing Blago's bidding. We have sufficient evidence that Blago is incredibly entitled and believes that people "owe" him for anything he does for them. How is that cloud hanging over Burris's head (even if it is undeserved based Burris's actions) helpful to African Americans or anyone in Illinois?

We have elected more African Americans to the senate than any other state (although that number is still a pathetic 2). I am not saying the playing field is level, but African Americans can win in this state. I just don't think that the answer to the absence of blacks in the senate is a tainted appointment by a corrupt governor.
I agree with what some other posters and TNC wrote about trying to increase the number of African Americans in public office by organizing.

I agree that there is a serious problem that there are no African Americans in the senate, and that is a problem that both parties need to seriously address. But this is not the way to it! I hope that the citizens of Illinois and particularly black people will not allow our race to be used in such a devious manner by the Gov and Bobby Rush. I respect Rush for all that he has done and for his struggle but he is wrong on this issue. He invoked God and race during his press conference statement yesterday and created an even bigger firestorm.

This entire fiasco is one example of the need for new, young, and more progressive African American leadership in Illinois and throughout the U.S...

As for the comment that she didn't try to bring Burge to justice that is unfairly drawn. It made it sound like she avoided prosecuting Burge. The Statute of Limitations on his crimes ran out years ago. The recent indictment against him alleges perjury in civil court and was brought under federal statutes.

As for suggesting Jesse White is being a puppet for Mike Madigan that is unfair. Any politician with any sense would say exactly the same thing as White regarding certifying Burris. Doing anything else would be political suicide.

I'm also glad to hear Bobby Rush talk about the importance of having a black Senator from Illinois. In 2004 he supported a rich white non politician named Blair Hull for the Senate. Who did Hull run against? I seem to remember some guy named Barack ? in there.

I remember the 1983 Mayoral race in Chicago. I lived it in my SW side lily white neighborhood. I voted for Daley in the primary and Washington in the general election. As Rikyrah said this ain't nutting compared to that. That was nasty and the threat of violence hung in the air. This is just fucking surreal. This will end relatively soon.

Rush and Burris are hacks. In fact most of the black politicians in Illinois are hacks and I include Jesse White in that group. Of course since most of the white politicians are hacks they have lotsa company.

Check out the columns in the Chicago Sun Times today for other perspectives.

http://www.suntimes.com/columnists/index.html

Check out Brown, Marin and Mitchell. Even Mary Mitchell, black columnist, is appalled. That is coming from someone who basically has demanded that the Senate Seat must be handed to a black person.

Blago could appoint someone who cured cancer and ran into an orphanage during a fire and saved 42 children of all races and 12 puppies and that person would still be tainted.

This isn't 1983 in Chicago, Illinois, or America. We are a better nation now. Imperfect, but better. Trying to play the race card is a game that needs to be over.

The person who is playing ethnic politics in this situation is Blagojevich in the sense that he is using race and the ethnic divides to allow him to flex his muscle and make the appointment. He thinks that by playing on racial and ethnic tensions he can bully Dems, the US Senate, and the citizens of Illinois into not opposing his choice. He figures no one will oppose a black candidate because he will make sure that they are called out as racists and he put everyone on notice that this is the game he's playing with Rush's references to lynching.

After the reading the article it hardly fits your characterization that Madigan (Lisa) has been dragging her feet on prosecuting Burge -- rather that the main problem is one of statute of limitations. Now that being said her proposed solution -- to hand it off to the Cook County prosecutors office doesn't seem to resolve some big conflict of interest issues -- since those prosecutors used the tainted confessions to help put Burge's victims in jail. This looks like a job for the feds.

IrishPirate - I share your opinion re: legacy politicians.

jackson93 & lolagib1 - I've had similar thoughts; its time for a new generation of black leadership - a la Obama preferably not folks that are riding daddy's coattails.

Anyone that Blago appoints is doomed to irrelevancy and failure in the Senate, and certain defeat in the 2010 primary. Why doom a black Senator to this?

Rush is knowingly playing into Blago's hands by giving him any scrap of legitimacy, making a fool of himself by being obviously co-opted, and ensuring that the next black United States Senator will go down in flames.

And this from, ironically, the only person to ever beat Barack Obama in an election contest.

I think this is a point of underrated significance. A couple of older outraged black pols may not be enough to get this thing done for Blago & Burr---they'll probably need Northside whites to feel as if this whole thing is racially motivated as well. And I doubt many whites in Chicago will feel that way at all. Rightly or wrongly, more and more white liberals simply don't feel as if they are at fault. I talked to a white friend in Chicago about this and she just rolled her eyes, dismissing it out of hand. It's harder to guilt trip these people when they just voted for a black prez.

And it remains to be seen how divided blacks will be. Obama hasn't come out all that strongly against what Blago has done so his impact at this point I suspect is minimal. And I don't know if Obama has anything to gain, politically speaking, by coming out more strenuously on this issue. He has more than enough heat coming his way in about three weeks.

At the same time, I think it may be a mistake to tie division among blacks to what position Obama takes. It's not as if blacks were of one mind on these issues and then Obama came along to mix it all up. The (generational) divide has always been there--all Obama did was raise the profile.

I think Senate Democrats will cave in the end. But I don't see this becoming inflamed on the basis of race in Chicago. With or without Obama, black people in Chicago are sophisticated enough to realize that this is about Blago and not Burris.

(Live in Boston now, but I'm from the westside and my congressman is Danny Davis)

http://www.suntimes.com/news/sweet/1356051,CST-NWS-sweet31.article

Danny Davis is a sitting Congressman in a safe district who has given no indication that he was going to retire and give up that paycheck. He knows that he has absolutely NO appeal outside the borders of the Chicago city limits.

Give up a guaranteed check for the next 10 years, padding that Congressional pension, for something that would be over in 2 years?

Come on, now.

Give up a guaranteed check for the next 10 years, padding that Congressional pension, for something that would be over in 2 years?

All good points. But for the record, if find it hard to believe that Burris will be re-elected in 2 years either if he decides to run. He will be 73 years old then, and is as long on resume as he is short on electoral talent. But I guess if you're retired with nothing to lose, any way back in is welcome.

Thing is, if Burris had been announced earlier I would have happy for him. I watched him defeated by a less experienced Glenn Poshard (remember him?) for the gubernatorial nod years back, so it would have been poetic in a sense for him to stand in the gap as a sort of grand old man of Chicago politics. I just wish he didn't have to carry the taint of Blago to get back in the game.

Taint. Heh.

I believed, no matter who was appointed, they would be facing a challenger in the Democratic Primary in 2010.

I wanted Jesse Jackson, Jr. but had no illusions about him even winning the Democratic Primary in 2010.

I think it's best to have that primary in 2010, and let the chips fall where they may.

I seriously haven't heard talk like this from my dad's drinking buddes for decades. I can tell this is gonna cost me a lot of drinks and time to cool these guys out.

Thanks, Bobby. Thanks a heap, pal.

Right, but I wasn't saying Obama was the CAUSE of the divide, just evidence that the divide IS there on this issue.

I mean, he's on one side of the issue (with White), and Rush and Burris are on the other. I think that's a pretty obvious division.

I also think that Obama DID make his opposition clear. It wasn't some fierce denunciation designed to rally the black community against Burris, but again, I'm not saying that he caused or tried to cause a division, just that there IS one, and he's evidence of it.