Why Does Burris Remind Me of the Doors?

By Mark Riley





The continuing drama surrounding Illinois Senator Roland Burris continues unabated. Just like the sports world has A-Rod, politics has this accidental lawmaker, whose waffling on dealings with associates of of his benefactor, Rod Blagojevich, threaten to bring him down.

So why is it that lately, every time I see or hear Burris' name mentioned in the news, I think back to a song from my misbegotten youth? The song is "Riders on the Storm" by the Doors, and if ever there's storm rider for the 21st century, it's Roland Burris.

Despite repeated calls for his resignation, Burris soldiers on. On Tuesday, I mused that he should announce now that he'd only stay through next year's election. With the media-political nexus calling for his head, even that seems impossible. Or is it? Consider the first verse of "Riders on the Storm"....

Riders on the storm

Into this house we're born

Into this world we're thrown

Like a dog without a bone

An actor out on loan....

Riders on the storm

For me, that verse defines Roland Burris' situation.


Now even black ministers who initially thought he was getting a bad rap from the media are re-thinking their support. And, as Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson puts it, when your credibility rests on matters of syntax and grammar, that's a bad sign.

I for one certainly recognize Roland Burris' service to the people of Illinois, in particular its length. However, you have to ask yourself if those same folks are best served by a politically challenged lawmaker who may well have no shot at the full term he took the job to seek.

It's time for Roland Burris to salvage what's left of his dignity and legacy, and give up that Senate seat. I say this knowing he probably will try to hold out and let the storm pass. Yet if Roland Burris is anything more than "an actor out on loan", he'll recognize it's time to go.

What do you think. Should Roland Burris resign?

Is Burris Toast?

If you read columns and stories from the punditocracy (I know it's not a word), the career of Illinois Senator Roland Burris died one month to the day after it began. He's the guy former Governor Rod Blagojevich named to replace Barack Obama, and we don't need to go into detail about that mess.

Now it seems like just when things were quieting down, Burris himself stirs the cauldron that is his state's politics. At issue is whether he lied to a state impeachment committee about his contact with Blagojevich staffers about the seat he now holds. 

Burris himself says he did have a previously undisclosed conversation with Blago's brother regarding a contribution to the governor's campaign (no need for that now). The senator's denial that his new affidavit changes his original testimony isn't exactly causing people in Illinois or DC to flock to his defense.

In fact, the silence on both fronts deafening. Senate Democrats, who never wanted to seat Burris in the first place, seem to hoping either he'll quit or won't have enough juice to win his party's nomination next year.

While Republicans in Illinois have called on Burris to quit, the more important question is whether he'll be wounded so badly by all this that the Democratic leadership will get behind another candidate.

Roland Burris' biggest sin? After all, no one, not even his most serious detractors, say he actually gave Blagojevich any money. No, his mistake was not disclosing his new affidavit on the matter before the Chicago media got ahold of it.

If Senator Roland Burris is interested in doing the honorable thing here (some might argue he shouldn't have accepted the appointment in the first place), he needs to pull himself out of next year's Senate race now. That's right. Tell the people of Illinois you'll fight for them, but only until they can decide for themselves who they want.

What do you think? Can Roland Burris survive?