Jan. 8, 2009 (World News Trust) -- There! I said it.
Yes. I know, embattled and ethically -- well, um -- relaxed, Illinois
Governor Rod Blagojevich has no business in the U.S. Senate. There’s
more than a fair number of people who quite reasonably believe his
shenanigans redefine him as having no business in the Illinois
governor’s job, either. But there’s something I’ve just gotta give the
guy (besides a piece of my mind).
I’d like to give him a round of applause. He’s evidently a world-class
political maneuverer in the way he’s left Senate Majority Leader Harry
Reid spluttering and stammering over the Roland Burris affair. I would
never want to play chess -- or poker -- with this guy, considering how he
played the “I-can-TOO-appoint-whoever-I-want-to-fill-Barack-Obama’s-Senate-seat,-regardless-what-kind-of-corruption-trouble-I’m-in”
game. The same Harry Reid who declared just days ago that Burris would
not be allowed into the most exclusive club in the world is now facing
another capitulation. Blago outplayed him. Sent an appointee who was
remarkably unimpeachable, with the added luster of maintaining the
scant representation (a single seat) for African-Americans in the
Senate.
Believe me, I’m no fan of Blago aside from some sheer partisanship
years ago when my son, then in 5th grade, chose his grandma’s home
state of Illinois on which to report, and we learned that Rod
Blagojevich, a Democrat, had recently replaced the GOP’s disgraced
George Ryan as governor. A Dem taking over from a Republican. Always
good news to me. If anything, I’m just plain ticked that Blago would
then set about giving Democrats a black eye and bloody nose with his
own corruption misadventures. Thanks a heap, pal. Whose side are you
on? And of course it all conveniently comes to a head when everyone
regardless of party needs to be pulling together behind a Democrat:
President-Elect Barack Obama. Just what we need is one of ours (a
Democrat) giving all of theirs (Republicans) reason to try to make life
more difficult for our new Commander-in-Chief.
But Blago played this shrewdly and brilliantly, painting Harry Reid
into a corner, and it’s a safe bet that our beloved Harry can be
counted on to capitulate yet again. Sigh. Been there, done that,
Senator Reid. All this means is that Reid is widely portrayed as the
loser (that’s how it’s viewed especially in the analytical class -- it’s
inevitably reduced rather simplistically to a winner and a loser, for
better or worse). And because perception is everything in politics, you
simply do NOT want to appear to be, or somehow positioned as, a loser.
It matters not the reason, whatever justification you can find in the
fine print, or how correct you think you are.
Let me say that again. Perception is everything in politics, whether
any of us likes it or not. And with the wickedly-calculated appointment
of Roland Burris to fill Barack Obama’s now-vacant Senate slot, Rod
Blagojevich now looks oddly and begrudgingly like a hero, with the
hapless Harry Reid as the goat. Played again, Sam, by yet another
Machiavellian master.
I sure wish our Senate leaders (AND House leaders, too, for that
matter) could maneuver the way Blago just did. We need a LOT of that
and ASAP, not merely as Democrats but as a whole nation. As Democrats,
now is THE time, and perhaps the ONLY time, to show gargantuan guts,
because there’s a huge amount of change that is going to have to be
strong-armed through the House and the Senate to rescue our nation, our
economy, our reputation in the world, our moral authority, and a great
deal more. The GOP has decided to dig in their heels and try to block
every inch of progress and every new approach that America desperately
needs to pull us out of the Republican-authored abyss of the last eight
years. So far, there is NO ONE in either house of Congress attempting
to remind them of what happened in November (they LOST), what a
substantial and unspinnable majority of Americans voted for (neither
the Republican NOR his more-of-the-same ideas), and what direction the voters dictated (AWAY from the GOP’s way of doing things).
Didn’t anybody notice in D.C.? Didn’t anyone see or read, or comprehend,
the writing on the wall last fall? Did they all fail miserably yet
again, this time misunderstanding the mood of the people -- and the new
and wholly different approaches they endorsed? They still don’t get it?
Elections have consequences, as do the across-the-board results the
Republicans produced. Basically, the message was for the infants and
adolescents to go to the back of the class, sit down, and shut up --
while the adults return, at long last, to restore order and clean up
the mess. Republicans, they didn’t want you running things anymore. The
proof couldn’t have been more clear. Many of us don’t even want to
hear from the lot of you for a while, for how badly you’ve screwed
things up, on YOUR watch, in OUR name, and with OUR money. You had your
say and your glory days and you blew it big-time. You Republicans have
thereby forfeited any right to have any say about anything, hopefully for quite awhile with your lousy conduct and
even lousier policies. Frankly, your Democratic colleagues in both
Houses owe you nothing but the backs of their hands.
The last thing we need is ANYTHING that gives the GOP ANY openings at
all to throw more monkey-wrenches into the machinery. Why give them ANY
in’s whatsoever? America already decided it wanted no more of what
they’re still selling. Since they’re clearly not willing to recognize
this or bow to it, and they seem determined to keep making trouble,
what we need, as Americans -- not just Democrats, is a team of roaring,
snarling tigers and shrewder-than-thou poker players. So far, I don’t
see many. The voters called for big changes and installed the Democrats
in the driver’s seat. The challenges ahead demand backbones of steel
among Democrats, because the work will be crushing, the problems nearly
sickening, and the extent of the change we need won’t come overnight.
It’s critical that we have the strong, the sharp, and the surly to grab
the wheel and shift the gears. And with Harry Reid in the lead, I fear
we have none of the above.
We do have an incoming Democratic president who’s declared his
intentions to reach out to the opposition (oh great -- offering them a
hand to bite, if not try to bite off). So okay then. Let him be Good
Cop. In the House and Senate, on the other hand, we need the Bad Cops --
and dozens of them. SOMEONE needs to have Barack’s back. And it looks
as though nobody does. Reid is even talking about standing up to the
new president when it’s deemed necessary. Oh yeah? Senator, you’ve had
years to figure that one out, and years to apply it to a president who
should have been obstructed at every turn. And you failed. Only now did
you just get religion. I say again: “Harry, whose team are you on?”
We need world-class chess and poker players working for us. Because now
more than ever, we Democrats need to project an image of power, guts,
intimidation, and invincibility -- to deflect and defeat any further
interference from the losing team. It doesn’t make much difference
whether Reid was technically correct regarding parts of the
Burris-Blago business. Perception is still everything in politics, and
the picture now painted is of a guy who got rolled -- AGAIN. Oh great.
Just what we need as our representatives prepare to do hand-to-hand
combat to pull our country back from the Republican-built brink. The
guy most likely to get punked, out-played, and out-bluffed. What’s
required, instead, is someone willing to play hardball, making Obama’s
congenial persona all the more appealing by contrast. Someone willing
to manipulate the public perception. Somebody with the devious smarts
of a Rod Blagojevich -- who knows how to be the roller rather than the roll-ee. We may not like B-Rod much, but dammit, Democrats,
he won this. And he’s still ours. While he is, we ought to find a way
to make something out of it. Or at least take a lesson on political
gamesmanship from it.
Meanwhile, I’m wondering whether the Senate Majority Leader might be interested in some sort of poker game…
Mary Lyon
is a veteran broadcaster and five-time Golden Mike Award winner, who
has anchored, reported, and written for the Associated Press Radio
Network, NBC Radio "The Source," and many Los Angeles-area stations
including KRTH-FM/AM, KLOS-FM, KFWB-AM, and KTLA-TV, and occasional
media analyst for ABC Radio News. She began her career as a liberal
activist with the Student Coalition for Humphrey/Muskie in 1968, and
helped spearhead a regional campaign, The Power 18," to win the right
to vote for 18-year-olds. She remains an advocate for liberal causes,
responsibility and accountability in media, environmental education and
support of the arts for children, and green living. In addition to
World News Trust, Mary writes for Huffington Post, OpEdNews, Democrats.us, WeDemocrats.org's "We! The People" webzine. Mary is also a parenting
expert, having written and llustrated the book "The Frazzled Working
Woman's Practical Guide to Motherhood.