Surprise, Surprise: Burris to Be Sworn in This Week

Posted by Jane Hamsher, Firedoglake at 4:27 PM on January 12, 2009.

Who could have predicted?

Eager to put the scandal-tainted standoff behind them, Senate Democrats accepted Roland Burris as President-elect Barack Obama's Senate successor on Monday and said they expect to swear in the new Illinois senator this week.

"He is now the senator-designate from Illinois and, as such, will be accorded all the rights and privileges of a senator-elect," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois said in a joint statement after Senate lawyers determined that Burris' paperwork met Senate requirements to be seated.

The two senators said they expect Burris, a former Illinois attorney general, to be sworn in and seated this week, barring objections from Republicans.

Actually anybody could have predicted --there was absolutely no winning end game for the Democratic leadership on this from the get.

Embarrasing as the whole thing was, if they'd stuck with their original plan to keep Burris out of the Senate and accepted a second appointment from Pat Quinn after Blago left office it could have been worse. It very likely would have triggered not only a constitutional crisis but a media freak show the likes of which we haven't seen since the Clinton impeachment.

It was such a lame threat nobody could take it seriously. No wonder Burris has been on my teevee laughing.

Tagged as: senate, reid, chicago, dick durbin, illinois, burris

Jane Hamsher is the founder of FireDogLake. Her work has also appeared on the Huffington Post, Alternet and The American Prospect.