Reid Rolled By Blago

09 January 2009 |permalink | email article

Gov. Rod Blagojevich may be going down, either through an impeachment vote by the full Illinois House, perhaps today, or in a collision with U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald.

But Blago’s clever appointment of Roland Burris to succeed Barack Obama will long be remembered as pure political circus and an embarrassing episode for both the President-elect and the Democratic-controlled U.S. Senate.

The person who comes out the most damaged is the increasingly ineffective Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid who adamantly opposed Burris’ seating before backtracking to save face. It’s time for a new leader.

The Washington Post noted that Senate majority leaders haven’t faired too well in recent years. Republican Bill Frist retired in 2006 after four years and decided not to run for president, while Democrat Tom Daschle lost his Senate seat in 1994.

Confirmation hearings for the popular Daschle, Obama’s choice to be secretary of health and human services, began yesterday.

Noted: Obama, who’s been lobbying for a national college playoff after the regular season, correctly predicted the Florida Gators would defeat the Oklahoma Sooners in the BCS championship game. Was he perhaps drawn to the Florida side because he won the state but lost every county in Oklahoma in his landslide victory? Just asking. 

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