Welcome to Change

Happy new year, all. Perhaps never before has a political season began on such a hopeful and historic note. The public has elected a man who vowed to bring real change Washington, DC, and he'll begin the journey soon.

Oh, there are a few minor details to hash out before change arrives. By now everyone has heard about the Blagojevich follies in Chicago, where Obama's former Senate seat was up for bids. Most have heard about Caroline Kennedy's bid to take Hillary Clinton's vacated New York Senate seat, a story that now includes former president Bill Clinton.

And what about Joe the VP? Amidst all the brouhaha in Chicago and New York Biden is laying low in little ole Wilmington and has yet to formally resign his Senate seat. Word on the street is he wants to make sure his son Beau, Delaware's Attorney General who's currently serving a reserve deployment in Iraq, has a shot to run for it in 2010. The current governor of Delaware recently said she would appoint Biden's long time aide Edward Kaufman, who swore up and down in his press conference that he would only caretake the seat until 2010 then would retire.

Since he's yet to resign Biden might actually be casting votes in the new 2009 Senate session right up through Inauguration Day, when he'll finally be forced to resign. As we know from Sarah Palin, Biden will be in charge of the Senate so that sets him up with some pretty good leverage in the opening days of 2009 before the lightworker takes the reins.

This change sounds very familiar, but there's hope; one of these folks just might become the 100th Monkey. Welcome to 2009.


FURTHERMORE 1/1/09

Here's a Slate column detailing how the Senate could block Burris from being seated. That sounds fine but the problem is Blago hasn't been convicted of anything, only accused. Sounds like a bad precedent. Of course, since Biden has decided to remain a Senator he might have to vote on rejecting Burris. It just keeps getting more and more bizarre.

ONE MIGHT THINK 1/1/09

That Harry Reid would be able to head off a possible shootout at the OK Corral come opening day on Tuesday. Heck, one might think Burris would not want to exercise an appointment from such a tarnished governor in the first place. Sir Walter Scott would certainly be impressed.