Clarence Page: Hiding Behind The Race Card [View All]

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http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2009/01/hiding_behind_the_race_card.html

Hiding Behind the Race Card
By Clarence Page


White guilt has exhausted itself, President-elect Barack Obama once wrote. Well, not so fast. His former opponent U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush apparently thinks there's still some life left in it.

What else can we make of the South Side Chicago Democratic congressman's backing of Roland Burris, who has been appointed to Obama's old Senate seat by a governor who is out on bail.

Dreamers hoped Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich would go quietly from office after his Dec. 9 arrest for federal corruption charges that include his allegedly trying to sell Obama's Senate seat to the highest bidder.

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Sure, it might be purely coincidental that Blagojevich happened to pick two black candidates in a row. Or maybe he feels a sincere liberal urge to make Obama's desk a "black seat." And maybe there really is a tooth fairy. More likely, the message to Burris is this: You're getting played.

Blagojevich undoubtedly hopes white senators will bow to the possibility of a black backlash in Burris' favor. That would have been more likely had Obama not held fast to his call for Blagojevich to step aside. Obama paid proper respect to Burris' public service, which includes his election to state comptroller as the first black officeholder to be elected statewide. Nevertheless, he asked that no one accept an appointment that was not "free of taint and controversy."

Having covered Rush as a reporter and commentator since his Black Panther days, I like him. I have admired his transition from beret-wearing militant to suit-and-tie South Side Chicago congressman. I like Burris, too. His only sins until now, as far as I know, have been a political tone-deafness that has prevented him from getting past the primaries in one run for the Senate, one for Chicago mayor and three times for governor.

But if this dustup over Burris is to become a battle for the hearts and minds of black Americans with Rush on one side and Obama on the other, I'm betting on Obama. If Burris wants to be a senator, let him run for it. Again.


Page is a Pulitzer Prize-winning syndicated columnist specializing in urban issues. He is based in Washington, D.C. E-mail: [e-mail]