I mean see my post from earlier about him being innocent until proven guilty;

However, it is bad form to make an appointment at this present time with so many questions and allegations in the air about his character.  

Especially considering the charges and the fact that the corruption charges are specifically tied to the business of filling Obama’s empty Senate seat.

This is a political mess to add to Blago’s list of political corruption.  It also gives more truth to the notion that Blago is in this game for numero uno.

First, nominating this guy in spite of what is going on around him is a major disrespect and disregard for the consensus building that any appointment made by Blago would not be considered legitimate or respected unless all of these allegations were proven to be erroneous.  U.S. Senators, Illinois State government, many of them have said this.

Second, by nominating Roland Burris, he has effectively pulled Burris into his mess, whether Burris was one of the mystery candidates being considered or not.  This is inconsiderate of Burris’s reputation and peace of mind.  Burris may be a stand up guy, and not have a blemish on his 40 year record, as Representative Bobby Rush stated, it does not bode well for him to have someone accused of being corrupt handpick him from a crowd of qualified candidates.  That is like picking an employee for a job who was recommended by the ex-CEO of Enron .  The resume might be impeccable, but you have to wonder why the candidate was held in such high esteem by someone with bad judgment.

Third, it is clear that Blago is trying to take some wind out of the sails for those proponents looking to impeach him and start that process.  One of the motivating reasons for wanting to impeach was so that they could prevent Blago from doing his job – appointing a replacement Senator.  Now that he has already made the move, the focus is on what to do about the appointment, rather than what to do with Blago’s political career.  He says he moved hastily to do this for the people of Illinois to have their representative, but it really was a move for himself.

With the appointment needing confirmation, it is unlikely that Burris will make it into the Senate, which is a shame for him, because he really might be highly qualified.  I was personally put off to hear Bobby Rush then say “oh, let’s not forget, Obama leaving the Senate means we have no African Americans there.”  What is this?  I understand Bobby, that being a minority, it is really important to you and other minorities to see representation in government.  Is arguing on the gruonds of inclusion and equality going to overshadow the political quagmire that accepting a corrupted governor’s appointment would bring?  Don’t use inequality and racial issues in the wrong context please.  

Rather than trying to guilt politicians by making them feel like they would be rejecting racial progress,  maybe Rush should spend more time running around making statements that would make Blago guilty about being so brazen and selfish.