Then later, I saw the senator on television, stumbling and shuddering through the same explanation as had his Calhoun. He was only trying to hoodwink Andy (in this episode played in white face by Governor Rod Blagojevich) into appointing him to the Senate, and he had done no wrong. Mr. Burris admitted that he told anyone who would listen that he wanted that appointment. In this episode, Andy had something the Kingfish wanted. You see, Mr. Burris had already purchased his mausoleum and had all of his great achievements inscribed upon it. Chief among his achievements were these: He had been a foreign exchange student at the University of Hamburg in Germany, he had been elected as State Comptroller and Attorney General of Illinois. It would be grand if US Senator could be included on his mausoleum. The inscription would have to read “Appointed” and not “Elected” but that would be okay, it would be like when parents tell their adopted children that they’re special because they were “chosen” and had not come to them from the natural process where parents don’t have a choice.
Senator Burris was reminded by his interviewer that he had stated on several occasions that he had made no attempts to pay-to-play. He made this assertion on television, before the US Senate and before the Illinois State Legislature, two of these times he was under oath, and now the disclosure of the wiretapped conversation with the governor’s brother disputed his claim. Mr. Burris shuddered through a maze of unrelated words that ended with him declaring that he did not make a contribution to the governor and therefore had done no wrong. This was his story and he was sticking with it, or, maybe to it.
The return of Amos 'n Andy in the persons of Roland Burris and Rod Blagojevich brought back a flood of memories; I was surprised that I related the incident to my very mixed feelings about that show, but hearing Mr. Wright’s explanation on television immediately brought back my youthful fondness for Algonquian J Calhoun, and I started shaping the comparison in my mind as events developed. I was happy that it was I, a black man, who made the comparison and not a white person from my era, because I can’t come to the belief that a white person would have brought the same degree of empathy (a word in the news these days) to the comparison. Senator Burris is a very accomplished man and I don’t intend to diminish any of his great accomplishments by pointing out this one similarity to the great Kingfish. I mean the man rose to be one of only four (Edward Brooks ( R ) MA, Carol Moseley Braun (D) IL, Barack Obama (D) IL) black United States Senators since reconstruction. But I can see him now with both his hands to his cheeks uttering that great Kingfish lament “Holy Mackerel Andy, What is I gon do now.”
Article comments
1 - Ruvy
Beautiful! Corruption as sitcom! Life imitates art!
I hadn't thought of how much Israeli politics imitates "Amos'n Amdy", but it does. And that sitcom plays day after day, with our tax dollars and lives as the bait for the local "Kingfish", in all of his various guises in Israel. The races and culture seem so different - but S-W-I-N-D-L-E seems to spell the same in Hebrew and in Emglish. You may rue having written this article in future. I'll be referring back to it time and again (with proper accreditation, of course!) to skewer the petty and gross thieves and swindlers in Israeli politics who make our lives miserable. Humor is just as effective as denunciation, and I'm gonna have me a ball!
2 - roger nowosielski
Another great article, Horace. I can't comment on the show (wasn't in US until 61). What I do find interesting, however, is the lack of response from our little, politically astute, I should think, BC community.
The point you're making is universal, and yet . . .