Obama Agrees That Burris Should Not Take His Senate Seat

In a breaking and developing story, the United States Senate denied giving US President-Elect Barack Obama’s vacated seat to former Illinois AG Roland Burris.

Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich has been embattled for several weeks. He is charged with selling US President-Elect Barack Obama’s Senate seat. Obama vacated the seat shortly after winning the US Presidency. So far, there is no evidence to suggest that Obama had anything to do with the scandal. The odds are stacked against Blagojevich. Blagojevich had refused all calls to stand down. That included a call from Obama. It would have seemed that it would be quite awhile before a successor would be named. However, it is not the case. Despite the controversy and pressure on Blagojevich, he has already named a person to fill Obama’s vacated seat. So far, Blagojevich has appointed Roland Burris, an African-American, to fill the seat. Burris is a former Illinois State AG. Lisa Madigan, the current AG had sought to have Blagojevich’s powers stripped. But, it did not work. However, Madigan did refuse to have the state pick up the tab for Blagojevich’s defense fees. “Please don’t allow the allegations against me to taint a good and honest man,” Blagojevich had said. So far, the US Senate had said that it would not accept anybody appointed with Blagojevich. Senate Democrats said that Blagojevich should not make such an appointment. So far, Obama agrees with the decision not to seat Burris. At the same time, he continued to call for Blagojevich to step down from office. However, Obama had nice things to say about Burris. He said Burris was a fine man. In a sense, Blagojevich may have made things worse for himself.