Moral convictions optional in Obama/Dem leadership

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AP’s Laurie Kellman has an article out today about the Senate feet beating retreat over Burris. Depending on what outlet you view it, the headlines morph.

From Huffpo: Dem Aide: Obama Team Pushed To Seat Burris

From Breitbart: Senate Dems retreat on Burris; Obama steps in

From Yahoo News: Senate Democrats yield to Obama, retreat on Burris

Same story… different eye catcher headline. But regardless of the soundbyte education for the average scan vs read American, the story remains the same. Obama is hailed as the fence mending hero of the day for putting “pressure” on the Senators to seat Burris.

So here we are… ignoring current events once again. It was only one day shy of a month ago that all 50 Dems signed a letter to Blagojevich asking him to resign, and ” under no circumstance make an appointment to fill the vacant Illinois Senate seat.”

Blagojevich ignored both Senate demands, of course… instead dug his heels in for the long run and appointed former AG Burris to replace Obama in the Senate. In another show of defiance, he began furiously issuing pardons… without explanations.


Nothing has transpired between that letter and now to see Blagojevich’s behavior – or perceived innocence – in any better light. Indeed, if you read BarbaraMD’s post over at Daily KOs (yup… you read that right), Burris isn’t looking so good either after the impeachment hearings…

At one point during his testimony, Burris was asked a simple question: Had he known that Blagojevich was attempting to sell the Senate seat, would he have reported it to federal authorities. Oddly enough, Burris refused to answer. Hopefully someone will press him on that refusal.

Ms. MD’s KOs post is a must read. Ouch… all that rubbing of your eyes at what I just said has gotta hurt, eh? LOL

Days after Blago’s pardons, Obama echoed the Senate’s convictions of the day.

CHICAGO, Dec. 30 (UPI) — President-elect Barack Obama said Tuesday he agrees the U.S. Senate shouldn’t seat the ex-Illinois attorney general Gov. Rod Blagojevich picked to replace him.

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Obama issued a statement making it clear he had nothing against former state Attorney General Roland Burris but supports Senate Democrats’ decision not to seat him, CNN reported.

“Roland Burris is a good man and a fine public servant, but the Senate Democrats made it clear weeks ago that they cannot accept an appointment made by a governor who is accused of selling this very Senate seat,” Obama said.

“I agree with their decision, and it is extremely disappointing that Gov. Blagojevich has chosen to ignore it.”

Obama also repeated his call for Blagojevich to resign.

The lawsuits were filed, rhetoric flew. Still Reid remained defiant, saying on Meet the Press just five days ago:

SEN. REID: Blagojevich obviously is a corrupt individual. I think that’s pretty clear. And the reason that he’s done what he’s done is to divert attention from the arrest that was just made of him and the indictment which will be coming in a few days, according to the U.S. attorney in Illinois. That’s why President-elect Obama agreed with us that Mr. Burris is tainted. Not as a result of anything that he’s done wrong. There’s–I don’t know a thing wrong with Mr. Burris. It’s not the person that has been appointed, it’s the appointee. If Blagojevich would do the right thing, that is step down, or he’ll probably be impeached. And he gave us Mr. Burris, he gave us Jesse Jackson Jr., Danny Davis, Madigan, all the fine people who we have from Illinois, they would be taken care of just like this.

~~~

SEN. REID: It–Danny Davis, a fine congressman from the state of Illinois, was offered, by Blagojevich, the job.

MR. GREGORY: Mm-hmm.

SEN. REID: He said, “I can’t accept this because my constituents, the people state of Illinois, would never accept me based on the cloud you have over you.” And that’s the problem we have. Now, what we’re going to do is I’m, I plan on meeting with him and Senator Durbin on Wednesday. That’s my understanding. We’re going to visit with him.

MR. GREGORY: Roland Burris, you’re talking about?

SEN. REID: That’s right, Roland Burris.

MR. GREGORY: Mm-hmm.

SEN. REID: And we would hope that in the meantime Blagojevich, with the impeachment proceedings that are ongoing against him, would do the right thing, step down. And then if Pat Quinn–who I’ve spoken to, a very fine man who’s the lieutenant governor–would become the acting governor or the governor, he wants to appoint Burris or anyone else, that would be fine. There is a cloud over Blagojevich, and at this stage a cloud over the state of Illinois. They don’t have a vote. And if–as long as Blagojevich has done the appointing, it’s really a tainted appointment.

Oh what a difference five days makes… Diane Feinstein, miffed at being ignored as a vital consultant for the CIA Director appointee, got the rebellion ball rolling and announced her change of convictions … er, heart… towards Burris. And a few other notable Dems, all of whom had boldy and defiantly put their signatures to a letter dictating their demands and convictions to Blagojevich just weeks before, started nodding their heads in agreement with la femme Diane.

Then comes yesterday’s Laurie Kellman AP article… with PEBO riding to the rescue on his white horse to “pressure” the Senate into seating Burris. One might wonder what has transpired behind the scenes? It was Feinstein who decided to lead the charge, not Obama. He was in johnny-come-lately agreement.

And what of their moral convictions against an appointee, “tainted” by the appointer and the process? Evidently such high morals and convictions are expendable in the face of political expediency.

Today brings the news of Blago’s impeachment by the IL House, and scheduling of a Senate trial near the end of the month. The “cloud” PEBO and the Senators’ objected to originally on moral grounds is not only *not* dissipating, but instead growing more menacing.

So what are we, the people, to think when we watch our elected officials take a stand they say is based on morality and against corruption… then reverse that stand in the face of even more negative events surrounding the appointment? Are their convictions that elusive? Their morals so easy to be compromised?

And what of the media, portraying Obama – guilty of throwing those same moral convictions aside – as some sort of hero, riding to the rescue to achieve “unity”. Have the media completely forgotten how strongly both PEBO and the Congress felt just days ago?

Evidently we, the people, are really being taken for a ride by both Congress and their pet media. These bozos think we are supposed to celebrate Congressional or party “unity”… forget that it’s founded on the abandonment of yesterday’s moral convictions. It’s about “unity”, stupid… even if centered around corruption and questionable processes.

I, for one, find it extremely disheartening that “convictions” are considered optional to our elected officials. If easily discarding moral stands is the “change” promised by Obama, I can’t see that it’s a change for the better.

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Obama flip-flopping one more time. The insanity continues…

so they are all corrupt. wonder if this was a setup to make it look like obama saved burris’ass? makes one wonder though. this is a joke and blago really needs to step down and stop making a fool of himself and a mockery of his office.

I look at the Team Obama handling of the Burris “thing” as merely damage control … get it off the news page.

Moral cowardice, hating itself, cloaks itself in an aura of moral superiority. The insecure cowards want to look like what they admire but lack courage to be. Their actions say to those who can read them: Let’s all be united in spite of these painfully important things we don’t agree about, by not going there anymore. We don’t want to lose friends over this. We just need to look united. Then we can hope our enemies don’t work to divide us over these issues we want to ignore. Let’s appear statesman-like, mature and effective, hopefully until I can get the hell out of this house of cards.