It's On, Again

I didn't get a chance to write about this yesterday evening or this morning, but shortly after I wrote that I was losing interest in the Burris controversy, the Illinois Supreme Court went and made me start paying attention again. Harry Reid and Dick Durbin had apparently sent Burris home with a simple two-part plan to be accepted by the Senate. Burris needed to testify before the Illinois House Investigative Committee on his dealings with Rod Blagojevich, and he needed to get Secretary of State Jesse White's signature on the appointment from the governor. White has all along refused to sign, basically taking the position that he wouldn't support any appointment from Blagojevich. Burris took the matter to the Illinois Supreme Court, which didn't provide the clear-cut victory he sought. The court wouldn't force White to sign the document, but it also ruled that White's signature was not necessary to make it official. White has the legal duty to record the appointment, and he's done that. Durbin came out yesterday and said that they'd asked for White's signature on Burris's appointment, and that's what they still demanded.

So, there we are. Everything's in play, again. Durbin even suggested that maybe the best thing to do would be to wait for Blago's impeachment trial to finish. Yeah, maybe that's not such a bad idea, at that. By now, however, the Senate leadership has drawn a number of lines in the sand over this. They weren't going to seat anyone appointed by Blago, but then maybe they could work something out with Burris. Now, however, they've backed themselves into a corner, and they don't seem to know the way out of it. I find it humorous to some extent, but then I remember that Reid and Durbin are the ones who'll be leading the fight for Obama's plans against the Republicans. That wipes the smile right off my face.