Burris: A Lesson

Let’s hope Roland Burris has taught Barack Obama a thing or two. The old political ally Obama knew from Chicago, whom Obama joined Senate Democrats in blocking, is likely to soon join the U.S. Senate after all.

It was an embarrassing episode from start to finish — and Obama allowed it to happen. Sure, it turns out he changed his mind early this week and convinced Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) in a phone call Monday that they should just give in to Burris after all. But the damage was done. As I described in my column this week, Obama makes a policy of forgiving and moving on, as he did with Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) when Democrats sought to punish him. Why would he let Roland Burris continue his public-relations circus when it would be far easier to have him in the Senate?

Democrats should seat Burris without asking him to quit in 2010. To start with, he isn’t likely to agree to it; secondly, it is an admission that this is all about his weakness as a candidate, and finally it will be easy to get rid of Burris in a primary — he hasn’t won one since 1979.

As Obama busies himself with trying to quiet the noisy grumbling from both parties over his stimulus package, he should make sure he takes a moment to digest the lesson from the Burris affair.

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