For those who see this as a matter of racial pride for the African-American community, let me point out that in taking the seat for the next two years, Roland Burris is destroying any chance of an African American holding it during the following decade.
In the first place, he's not going to get elected. Most Illinois voters wanted nothing more to do with him before this, and now he's finished. But he's going to run anyway because his ego is so big, and in the process, he'll keep any another African American from getting through the 2010 primary.
That's the certain math of racial politics in Illinois, the only state in modern history to elect two African Americans to the Senate and certainly capable of making it three with the right candidate.
The writer has put his finger on it. Burris is not a current day popular figure in Illinois, and barring something near miraculous, could not be re-elected in two years.
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