Roland Burris, meanwhile, seemed to fall off the edge of the earth. Like a small-time pharaoh, he built a mausoleum at a South Side cemetery with his accomplishments etched in marble and a huge panel reserved for more. When Obama was elected president in November, Burris began campaigning for the Senate seat but no one gave him a chance. Even had he wanted to, he had nothing to offer Blagojevich in return for the job. His $20,000 in campaign contributions was laughably small for the prize. The fact that Burris's business partner may have helped Illinois First Lady Patti Blagojevich get a part-time job was also small potatoes by the pay-to-play standards Blago established. Burris was a has-been until the governor cleverly turned him into a will-be.

The most memorable part of Blagojevich's press conference announcing his appointment of Burris was the hardly coincidental appearance of Obama's old nemesis, Bobby Rush. It was the one-time Black Panther, now battling cancer, who set last week's racial politics in motion. Rush said that for the Senate to reject Burris would be the equivalent of a "lynching."
Obama despises this kind of mau-mauing and he issued a written statement from Hawaii supporting efforts to block Burris's appointment. But he was lucky he was on vacation and not making public appearances. Not offering the statement in person, it was easier to back away from it a few days later.

Why did Illinois politicians at first hang so tough against Burris? After all, Blagojevich had not yet even been indicted, and it was clear that he had the legal authority to make the appointment. The answer goes back to the history of personal relationships. The connection these pols find most important, of course, is to Obama, who was hardly pleased about the Blago distraction. But Burris's decision to accept the governor's offer (Rep. Danny Davis, another longtime African-American politician, had declined) was also an insult to Durbin, who for years has been the best-liked politician in Illinois. It was Durbin who in 2006 did more than anyone else to convince Obama to run for president, a fact that Washington players might want to keep in mind when they deal with him.

Of course there were limits to how closely local Democrats would listen to Durbin, who had called shortly after Blagojevich's arrest for a special election to fill the vacancy left by Obama. With the possibility of a Republican being elected, that was a nonstarter for Illinois Democrats.
Chicago politicians hoped the whole Blago mess would be over by the Inauguration. We know how that worked out. Now, even as the road to seating Burris seems clearer, we'll be treated to a two-to-three week impeachment process in Springfield. That might be bad for Illinois but it's nice for the press. Sure beats covering credit-default swaps.

If nothing else, this bouffe—how about Blago's poetry reading?—might set to rest forever the legend of the Chicago Democratic machine. This time, the gears and pulleys were smashed beyond recognition. All that's left is the residue of rivalry and ambition that characterizes politics everywhere. Chicago, meet Washington.

© 2009