Burris: 'Is it racism that is taking place?'

They are not shy about playing the race card in Illinois. Twenty-four hours ago the Senate was promising to reject any appointee of Blagojevich, who is white. He reached, in the most direct way available, for the race card; and it's immediately in play.

“It is a fact there are no African-Americans in the United States Senate," Burris said Wednesday on NBC's "Today," reiterating a statement first made Tuesday by U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill). "Is it racism that is taking place? That's a question that someone may raise."

ALSO: A proposed solution: I've always thought David Paterson's best move was to appoint himself to the Senate. He's a career legislator, gifted more as a communicator and coalition-builder than an executive, and has postponed the hardest decisions of his governorship to the year leading up to his 2010 election bid. He's also presiding over a chaotic scrap for Clinton's Senate seat.

Now, he could solve his problems and ease concern for diversity in the Senate in one fell swoop. And with the press in its maximal outrage mode over Caroline Kennedy's presumption, his move might be seen as delightful, rather than gross, chutzpah.