Reid is on the defensive, and not because of the potency of identity politics. He's on the defensive because he did nothing on Sunday to dispel the stories that he preferred a candidate who couldn't win a house seat, to a couple of longstanding members of Congress. I don't want to hear about how Jesse and Danny Davis can't compete downstate in 2010. That is the same sort of logic that gave us Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton back in 2006.Before the service, Burris supporter U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush and about 60 ministers condemned Senate Democratic leaders for rejecting Burris.
Rush, a Chicago Democrat, called the Senate "the last bastion of plantation politics."
"We are just faced with a hard-headed room of people in the Senate who want to keep an African-American out of the Senate," Rush said.
This whole situation really makes me sick. But it reminds me of something I learned about Marion Barry, back in the 90s when I was covering D.C. Barry had the Bobby Rush game down pat--he'd make any criticism of him, by default, a criticism of Chocolate City. But the lowness of the tactic would often blind people to a very uncomfortable truth--Marion Barry was a great politician. It's true that Rush and Blago took a cheap-shot. But, likewise, that shouldn't blind us to the greater truth--this time out, they just played the game better.
The Beautiful Struggle: A Father, Two Sons, and an Unlikely Road to Manhood 
I was just coming of age politically when Barry's particular problems occurred. My sense of the outrage on the right was that there was no outrage in general even though the guy was caught more red-handed than...well, anyone else I can think of in modern media history.
Combined with the lack of outrage was the perception from where I was sitting that the left, and black voters/politicians in general, gave the guy a pass because of race alone. Additionally, had the guy been white, he would have been toasted, roasted, and run out of town on the nearest rail.
Granted, as MT said, generalizations are generally worthless, but there you are ;)
Personally, it's high time the national politicians stand up to the corrupt Bobby Rush. Obama would be a good start. The first thing to point out, just as Obama has with his cabinent picks, is that the BEST person for the job should be chosen...color should be irrelevant.
Then again, this is how blacks like Rush and Jesse Jackson Sr and Al Sharpton keep racism alive and well. Keep their bases fearing that Whitey hates Blackey, and their bases will continue to give their money to Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton and Bobby Rush. A bunch of lying hypocrites.
I'm not understanding where you're coming from with the criticism of Reid - Reid said that Blagojevich made up the story about him veto-ing black senators. He repeated that twice, and then went on to say this is part of how Blagojevich is trying to manipulate the situation. Then he continued by pointing out that Rush opposed Obama in 2004 in favor of a white candidate in the primary. What else is he supposed to say?
Reid IS weak. He IS uncharasmatic. And admittedly, I watched the interview on close-captioning at the gym, so maybe the words themselves weren't delivered well. But that's just how Reid talks. I'm not going to defend his record as a Senatorial leader, but you've implied in multiple posts now that Reid did not unequivocally deny the contention that he vetoed black candidates. In so doing, you're crediting the same kind of reports that said Rahm Emanuel had dozens of conversations with Blagojevich and mentioned specific candidates that he favored, which WERE FALSE. They were SHOWN TO BE FALSE. The source was shown to be close to Blagojevich and spreading false stories. What is he supposed to do? When one side is perfectly willing to blatantly lie in press reports and spread false innuendo, what are you going to do except show up on national tv and say that all of this was false. The only equivocation was about details of the conversation, which he said were mostly about general concepts around the appointment but wisely he didn't want to recall specifics because there are tapes of these conversations floating around, and he doesn't want to have a "gotcha" at some point. But on veto-ing Jackson, Davis, and Burris, he unequivocally said the reports were made up.
By posting these reports, you're just feeding into the whole Rush-Burris racial paranoia machine (and you can add John Street to your list of politicians who've played these games). You have a responsibility to be honest.
Also, there's a nice column in slate.com that goes over reasons why the Senate might have a reasonable legal case. I've seen constitutional arguments on both sides, and some of the most vocal who say it isn't legal are Republican-leaning sources (like Volokh Conspiracy bloggers). I'm not a constitutional lawyer, but I do recognize that there are clearly two schools of opposing thought on this question.
...well, Burris will have to buy a plane, train, or bus ticket to get to D.C., so maybe they'll get him on interstate commerce...
I said last week that Blago played this perfectly and he has. Anybody who is saying the Senate has a Constitutional case to bar Burris is fooling themselves. The problem is and always be this, any court will say that if the Senate is allowed to bar Burris for just the appearance of impropriety not by him but by the man who appointed him who has not actually been idicted then there will be nothing to stop the Senate from barring any other member for more dubious transgressions. Our country was founded on "innocent until proven guilty" and I don't see the Supreme Court or any other court effectively giving the Senate the right to subvert that tenet. Besides that Harry Reid himself admitted yesterday that in the end Burris might be seated which really translates into "yes I am going to fold on this". The race card play by BRush and Burris was actually the dumbest play to be made in all this and I actually don't think its helping him at all outside of Chicago. But in the end the fact that the more this story is in the news the more Blago can help to shape it means the Dems need and will get it out of the news as soon as possible and that means allowing him to be seated. Besides they need a 2/3 majority to bar Burris which means Republicans would have to vote for it too. What impetus does McConnell have to help the Dems clean up their own mess? NONE. By not moving on a special election the Dems effectively created this problem and so they have to live with the consequences.
Besides they need a 2/3 majority to bar Burris which means Republicans would have to vote for it too.
This isn't right. They only need a 2/3 majority to exclude him after he officially becomes a Senator. If it is legal to bar him from being seated in the first place, and I share your doubts that it is although it may not be an open and shut case, then they only need 51 votes for that.
One reason I liked Obama is that I agree things are too polarized--but man, Reid doesn't seem to know when or how to fight. And to be outmaneuvered by Blago, a man who doesn't even know not to talk about the bribes you're taking over the phone....
Word. Weak sauce.
Blego plays the game on the concrete court w/ the basket nailed to the telephone pole and Fitzgerald sitting on it blowing in the wind. Reid wants to play here?
You know, to borrow your phrase, I think almost every city of some size and cultural diversity has a rep that can play the "Cracker-Ass Cracker" game to much effect.
I once covered a city council where, probably, the best, most effective, most popular councilman (in his district) was such a man. And he almost always got things done. Even his adversaries admitted that he was the "best politician" in town. I mean, he went to jail for a year for taking a bribe, got legally banned from office, then sought out a federal pardon and was reelected to his old spot in a landslide over the incumbent.
We'd like to think there's not a place for identity politics in our governing bodies. We'd like them to be antiquated, newspaper-readers, folks who drink whiskey and lament a world that's passing them by.
But, you know, when it comes down to it, they can still be pretty damn effective. Just like Bobby Rush and Blago.
Reid just hasn't played the game on that level. Maybe ever. And you can see that in his weak-ass defense.
In this sort of game, you can see how Rush can knock off Obama, Sharpe James can defeat Cory Booker and Marion Barry kept returning to power.
I've been telling you from the beginning:
Madigan and Reid though they'd be SLICK about the special election.
And now, they are STUCK.
Reid is weak , period.
Madigan, on the other hand, should have known better. But, since he's Massa Madigan, he got ahead of himself and thought he had Blago finally cornered after 7 years of fighting.
He forgot who Blago was and where he came from, and that SHAME isn't in his vocabulary. Blago is from the street, and he learned hardball politics from Daddy Mell.
I, too, don't wanna hear anymore about Jackson, Jr. not being electable. I'm so glad that person on Open Left brought up Reid's support of Harold Ford, who comes from a family where everyone is either arrested, indicted, convicted or in jail. Yet, he supported his DLC behind.
No, this comes back to JJJ being ELECTABLE. And, if he actually got ELECTED, he'd be there until HE wanted to leave. I now see that.
Please, Marion Barry was a fool. Bad analogy; yet I'm sure if you dig deeper you'll come up with a better one.
Look, Reid holds back publicly. It isn't what he says--he is an extremely measured politician verbally. Retentive, perhaps.It's what he does behind the scenes and what he won't give away to the media, to you, or anyone that has brought him power and respect in the Senate.
They are going to take Blago out if they have to put him in a straight jacket. Dead Ego Walking. Dude may as well start penning the memoirs in between the court appearances.
Having lived in the DC area during many of Mayor Barry's greatest hits, I am, for personal (the first time I met him, with my new baby in my arms and my husband at my side he made a pass!) and professional reasons, no fan. So no one was more surprised and initially dismayed than I to see him on a couple of cable talk shows during the primaries. Wonder of wonders he was not only lucid but incisive, eloquent and incredibly smart. That said, all American tribes, including most of all White people, play identity politics. Honey Fitz, an Irish-American mayor of Boston, was I believe, re-elected from his jail cell. The genius of Obama is to try and move all of us away from tribalism, at a time when many of human kind's problems can be laid directly at the feet of this often dangerous ideology.
as a more or less native of DC (well, lived there from 9-18, mom is still there) who was around in the Marion Barry days I have to confess to something of a soft spot for the man. to come back--from that?! that's kind of amazing. bitch set me up!
TNC - ever so slightly off topic, but I heard you on NPR this morning discussing the Burrin/BRush/Blago fiasco. Nicely handled. I was a little surprised that Steve Inskeep thought that the down side of your argument about Obama and winning on the field as it exists was that people couldn't play the Race Card to win as much any more. That's a down side?