Quite often in our lives we find ourselves in the middle of controversial conversations or actions.Sometimes in the heat of the moment we make or engage in off the cuff statements or shoot from the lip behavior that doesn't always prove to be true or pan out as we may have thought it would.
I have, and I'm sure many here have as well.
On occasion, our first thoughts or reactions prove to be correct, but sometimes we're just flat wrong.
I think many were a little hasty in their condemnation of Roland Burris.
Senator Roland Burris is one of many who could be referred to as an accidental political figure.Even though he had been elected to and served as a statewide official in Illinois, I seriously doubt he would have ever been elected to the US Senate. And, while there have been many politicians that rose to power and prominence throughout American history, few if any have been as controversial...at least at the begininng of their tenure.
Some of the accidental political figures (in my lifetime at least) have went on to become historical and transformative politicians:
Harry Truman
LBJ
Gerald Ford
Others, appointed to lesser office to replace a spouse or fill a seat that was vacant due to death or otherwise, have quietly served and receeded into history. Few--if any-- had to withstand the onslaught of ridicule, vitrol or down right nastiness directed at him personally and otherwise. Much of it coming from liberals, progressives and the Democratic establishment itself.
Now, two years on, as Sen. Burris prepares to return to Chicago, having been only the third African American to serve in the US Senate, his seat firmly in Republican hands, maybe we can give him his proper due for being a stalwart Democrat that never wavered in his principles or those of the Party.
Say what you will about the circumstances of his appointment, he never let us down or caused undue anxiety as to where he stood. When the roll was called, he could be counted on to vote for the people and their needs.
Thank you Senator. Your place in history has been cemented. You served well and I hope your future will bright.
Editing to reflect there have been four African American Senators.
Brooke
Mosely-Braun
Obama
Burris
And thanks to teacherken for reminding me the were actually six when reconstruction Senators Hiram Revels and Blanche Bruce are included .