Blago and black folks

Regarding Blago's foolhardy choice of Roland Burris for Illinois' vacant Senate seat, please give black people - and black radio, too - more credit than this, Michael Tomasky:

There's a chance that is is going to be on black radio all over the country tomorrow morning, and if it is, it's going to have nothing to do with Blago on those stations. It'll have to do with whether the white Democratic leaders of the Senate, "who take our vote for granted in November," etc., will spurn this obviously qualified black man.

Look, Bobby Rush doesn't speak for me and I've got a sneaking suspicion that he doesn't speak for much more than a diminishing minority of folks who are still getting regular subscriptions to "The Final Call."

It's hard to figure out how anyone could take Rush or his empty threats seriously. Seems to me as if the only ones giving them much credence are Tomasky, Edward McClelland and a handful of other folks who probably haven't spent much time on the Southside of any city, let alone Chicago.
Call me naive, but I think black people can actually see through this unabashed play to racial politics. Any rejection of Burris by the U.S. Senate leadership will be a rejection of Blago and not a rejection of Burris himself. No one could possibly see Blago or his selection of Burris as legitimate.

And hopefully people will remember that for all the noise Rush is making about a lack of black representation in the Senate, he supported Obama's white, millionaire opponent, Blair Hull, in 2004.

I'm actually more embarrassed that Roland Burris would allow himself to be used as a pawn in this way. He should have known better than to get mixed up with Blagojevich.

But what should we really expect from the guy? He's an also-ran, a perennial political loser. In fact, MSNBC's Chuck Todd actually called Burris a "lovable loser." At 71, this is probably Burris' final shot at holding a public office.

I actually felt sorry for him during his appearance on MSNBC. It smacked of, uh, desperation.