Barack Obama has asked the governor of Illinois to replace him with an African American senator. Who will the next Illinois senator be? Jesse Jackson Jr. or Harold Ford Jr. would probably be the favorites.
Isn't Jackson in Obama's camp? Dude is an opportunist. I find it offensive that Obama specifically requests him to be replaced by an African American, as if that is some sort of qualifier.
Yeah, Jesse Jackson Jr. is in Obama's camp. Harold Ford Jr. wouild be a great senator, and should get the nod over Jesse Jackson Jr. imo if they do go the African American route.
Well, better make sure the next dude is only half black because that would be cheating to put a full on black guy in there.
Oh my God, are you fucking kidding me? How about the best person for the job instead? If it's a black female wiccan lesbian transvestite that's fine by me, but just put the best person in there.
Well, the first filter will have to be someone acceptable to Gov. Blagojevich, who is pretty far left. I believe there are people of real quality who occupy that spectrum, so that shouldn't be an issue. I would hope the second filter would be to not appoint a carpetbagger, but someone from Illinois, who understands its problems. The third filter would be qualifications and experience. Perhaps the best move would be to promote someone from the House and then appoint someone to fill the House seat. I think Rahm Emanuel would make an excellent Senator, but he'll probably occupy a senior post in the Obama administration. The fourth filter would be to find someone who passed the first three hurdles and had a vision similar to both the Gov. and the President-Elect. Race in my opinion is not an acceptable filter. Or we could just say "fuck it" and appoint Oprah.
That makes sense to me. I'm curious, since Keyes ran against Obama, and as I understand it he doesn't have IL roots, and since Harold Ford Jr has been mentioned as a candidate for Obama's slot... Are there any residency requirements? Is this a state issue, or federal? If state, is IL unusual in this regard, or are all states subject to carpetbaggers in a similar fashion? McCain wasn't a AZ native, but he did at least marry someone from AZ. Obama wasn't an IL native, but he did live and work there for some time before running. barfo
How about Michelle Obama? She could thus one-up Hillary by being Senator and First Lady simultaneously. barfo
I don't mind when someone who lived and worked in a state (like Obama did) for a few years before he ran for Illinois State Senate runs for US Senate. Hillary Clinton's move to NY bugged the shit out of me and I'm not that comfortable with the way John McCain advanced his House seat. What I find even more obnoxious is when voters buy into the idea that these people can represent their state. Seriously, Harold Ford, Jr. is from Tennessee. If he wants to be a Senator, he should have run against Lamar Alexander or run against Bob Corker in 2012. Jesse Jackson on the flip side is a long-time Illinois resident. I'm not a fan of his work as a DC Shadow Senator, but he'd at least be a legitimate choice.
