Roland Burris, WTF?

So now, a week after Obama, Reid and Durbin said there was no way they'd let Blagojevich appoint Obama's successor, Obama calls Reid and tells him to appoint the guy Blago picked, and Reid and Durbin capitulate. While some are saying that this episode shows what a tough guy Obama really is - successfully telling Harry Reid how to run the Senate - I'm not sure anyone came away from this one smelling like a rose.

Obama, Reid and Durbin laid a line down in the sand, the Illinois governor gayly stepped across it, and ORD blinked (and while Obama blinked to Blago and Burris, Reid and Durbin earn extra points for blinking to Obama as well). The congressional Democrats have a long history of capitulating to Bush and the Republicans, after initially talking tough. But for Obama, this is new, and starting to suggest yet another trend (the first trend being an ongoing fixation with dissing major Democrats and democratic consituencies). Earlier this week Obama gave nearly half the stimulus plan away to the Republicans in order to woo their votes, even if in so doing he gutted his own plan, and more importantly, watered down the impact the stimulus bill could have in saving our economy. And now we have Roland Burris - a bit player, to be sure - but one about whom Obama was quick to take a harsh public stand, only to subsequently cave.

The Republicans are watching and learning, to the tune of $300bn already. And that, I fear, is only the beginning.