In a piece Roger Simon wrote for Politico entitled “In Politics, Does Race Trump Gender?“, he asks, “How come Roland Burris has had such an easy time getting to the U.S. Senate while Caroline Kennedy has had such a hard time?”
The answer is easy: he was appointed by the governor of his state, and she hasn’t been.
That’s all. There’s no racial angle here, despite the efforts of Rep. Bobby Rush, whose playing of the race card in the Burris matter was nothing short of disgusting. And it’s not even a matter of whether Burris and/or Kennedy is qualified for the job. The simple fact is that Burris was willing to accept a tainted appointment and, without a valid legal reason to exempt him from the Senate, he was seated.
As for Kennedy, it’s still possible she’ll get the job, but she hasn’t helped herself with any of her public or media appearances in the last few days. However, if Gov. Patterson appoints her, she’ll be seated as a freshman Senator just like Burris. And they’ll both join a long list of people who didn’t deserve to be part of that legislative body, regardless of race and gender.