Get Ready To Add 'Senator' To Roland Burris' Resume

We've seen turnarounds in Washington before, but this one will always stand out, if for no other reason than the startling about-face.

Following the arrest of Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) on corruption charges last month, most particularly on the allegation that he attempted to sell Barack Obama's former Senate seat to the highest bidder, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid warned the gov: Don't even think about sending a Senate appointee to Washington. That person will not be accepted. And Reid said the entire Democratic majority was onboard, along with Obama.

Blagojevich called their bluff. On Dec. 30, he named Roland Burris, a former state attorney general and comptroller, to the seat. He basically dared them to reject Burris, who is African-American and would be the Senate's only black member.

For a while, it looked like Reid & Co. would stand their ground and prevail. The Illinois secretary of state, Jesse White (D), refused to add his signature to Blagojevich's certification of Burris. Reid and Dick Durbin, the Senate majority whip and the only Illinois senator, said whoa, we certainly can't certify a new member in light of that 1884 law that demands signatures of both the governor and the secretary of state! No signature, no senator, was the Reid/Durbin mantra.

No longer.

By all accounts, Burris will be sworn in as senator later this week. Reid, the Senate parliamentarian, the secretary of the Senate and Senate lawyers all now say that Burris' credentials are in order. White actually added his signature to Burris' certification last Friday, but it's more than that. The Dem solidarity began to fall apart when Sen. Dianne Feinstein said last week that Burris should be seated. The sight of Burris, a diminutive black man, being turned away from the all-white Senate earlier in the week because of faulty credentials reminded some, fairly or not, of black students being turned away from all-white Southern schools in the 1950s and '60s. Reid's case was falling apart right before his eyes.

Today, in a statement from Reid and Durbin, the Democratic leaders said that, "barring objections from Senate Republicans," they expected Burris to be sworn in and seated later this week.

The complete turnaround in the situation was nothing short of breathtaking.

4:08 PM ET | 01-12-2009 | permalink

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