Replace Harry Reid?

[Purveyor]

By Michael Fauntroy

Barack Obama will soon be sworn in as the 44th President of the United States. He's deep into his transition and moving with dispatch to be ready to work immediately upon taking office. Given all that is on his plate - Israel/Gaza, Iraq, Afghanistan, economic crisis, plunging real estate values; you get the picture - one would think Obama wants to limit distractions as he prepares to enter the White House. But with friends like Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Obama now has to deal with what is a tempest in a teapot - the seating of Roland Burris in the U.S. Senate. Reid's leadership on this has been abysmal.

Despite his dirty benefactor, Burris is qualified to serve in the job to which he has been appointed. Denying him a seat in the Senate is petty and unwise, particularly given the much bigger fish the chamber has to fry. Moreover, it is hard to find anyone who believes that Burris will not ultimately be seated. Reid's mishandling of this issue leads me to conclude that now may be the time to revisit Reid's leadership of the Senate Democratic majority. While I'm sure that he is sincere in his belief that anyone appointed by the indicted Governor of Illinois, Rod Blagojevich, should not serve in the Senate, I'm also sure that his position is politically stupid and endangering a smooth transition to Democratic control of the government. Every second spent on this issue is one that can't be devoted to convincing the country that the Democrats are prepared to lead.

The Democrats should cut their losses and seat Burris. Perhaps they should cut their losses with Reid, too.

HuffingtonPost: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-fauntroy-phd/replace-harry-reid_b_155775.html

[rateyes]

1. I vote "yes." nt

[calimary]

2. AMEN!

With Reid we can just look forward to being pushed around by the republi-CONS - AGAIN and AGAIN and AGAIN and AGAIN and AGAIN and AGAIN and...

[Blaze Diem]

3. Absolutely. Where do I sign? What does it really take to get rid of Reid?

What begins the process?

[Enrique]

9. you begin the process

you probably have at least one democratic senator. Contact them and ask them to run against Harry Reid, or to support another senator against Reid. Let us know what they say.

[backscatter712]

4. HELL YES!!!

[FSogol]

5. Why not give Jim Webb the job. At least he has a backbone. n/t

[Enrique]

14. call Webb and ask him if he supports Reid

he probably does, but maybe not. Maybe he would run against Reid.

[bdamomma]

6. not that it will happen but I wish Harry would step down.

but then again, who would they replace him with, you never know Chuck Schumer? Carl Levin? Chris Dodd? they would never be that progressive and pick Boxer or Feingold.

[Frustratedlady]

7. I agree! Reid should go, as well as his match in the House.

We've lost 2 years of progress with these incompetents who are afraid of their own shadows. Get someone in their places that are leaders.

[Barack_America]

8. It's hard to imagine how this hasn't seriously undermined Reid.

I wouldn't be the least bit surprised (nor saddened) to see him replaced.

[Tuesday_Morning]

10. yes

[ProSense]

11. Who should replace him, Durbin?

Edited to add that Reid was re-elected by the entire Democratic caucus.

[Enrique]

13. I've heard Durbin's name mentioned many times as a possibility

which seems strange to me since he seems tight with Reid.

But who knows, call him and find out if he's willing to run against Reid for the job.

[Enrique]

12. ok, people, it's time to act

there have been literally hundreds of calls on DU for Reid's removal, and I have not seen a single instance of anyone doing anything. It frankly looks ridiculous. If people really care about something, they do something.

[leftstreet]

15. We need to take to the streets, the way we ended the Iraq War

oh, wait...

[paulk]

16. um, Mike

the election for Senate majority leader was Nov 18th.

If you wannabe a pretend pundit, you need to pay attention to these things...

[truebrit71]

17. Hell YES!!! It is PAST time for this useless appeaser to go...

....fucking useless is what he is..