Laura Vitale’s blog

Now that Barack Obama has been elected president, Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich must appoint someone to serve the last two years of Obama’s term in the Senate. Some believe that the seat should be filled by another black man or woman. According to an article on FOXNews, Democratic Illinois Rep. Bobby Rush said it would be a “national disgrace” if the seat was not filled by an African-American.

President-Elect Barack Obama

While there is a strong argument to be made that the “most qualified” person should always take the position, politics never works like that anyway. More often than not in life, it is more about who you know than what you know. It is also obvious that the majority of Senators are white men. Of course, this old network further discourages newcomers to the political system, especially minorities.

A few of the advantages to legislated quotas are that it is the most effective way to achieve more balanced representation; elected representatives are role models for other minorities who may be encouraged to run for office; political parties will be encouraged to search among a more diverse group of candidates; and, it compensates for the discrimination that exists in society.

As of the US Census Bureau in 2000, Illinois’s population demographic is 73.5% white, 15.1% African American, 0.3% American Indian and native Alaskan, 12.3% Hispanic or Latino, and 1.9% persons reporting two or more races. In the United States, African-Americans have been historically underrepresented in Congress. Now that Obama has resigned from the Senate, there are currently no African-Americans in the Senate.

If Sarah Palin was elected to the Senate just because she was a woman, it would be expected that she was in office to represent women. But, not all women are alike. Because she is a socially conservative, anti-abortion woman, many felt that Palin would not champion “women’s issues.” Similarly, the 15.1% population of Illinois that is African-American would not unanimously agree on one man or woman who would represent their interests the best. Furthermore, the person who fills the seat must represent all of Illinois – not just the members of his or her race or gender.

Obama did not run for office based on his race, and he could not have been elected president with the black vote alone. But, it is fair for Rush to want an African-American man or woman to fill Obama’s seat; any talk about the most qualified candidate is rather hypocritical, because no one elected or appointed to office is necessarily “the most qualified.” Furthermore, as a historically underrepresented population, it would be unfortunate if African-Americans lost the representation they did have in the Senate.

Gov. Blagojevich may or may not choose an African-American man or women to fill Obama’s seat; either way, I’m not sure the words “national disgrace” should come into play. After all, Obama may have left the Senate, but his historic victory makes him the first African-American president.

I have been looking on all the major news websites lately, but there is no sign of our next Vice President. What has Joe Biden been up to? The last I heard, Obama surprised him with birthday cupcakes. After a quick Google search, the most recently dated article about Biden was a Nov. 25 article in the New York Times, “For Biden, No Portfolio but the Role of the Counselor.”

The article points out that Biden will probably act more as a counselor to Obama. He has been spending much of his time in Chicago with Obama, has been involved in cabinet and policy decisions, and has been hiring for his own office.

Vice-President-Elect Joe Biden

Now that Hillary Clinton is Secretary of State, Biden acknowledges that although he was chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, he will not be a primary adviser on foreign policy, according to the article.

Am I the only one who thinks that Clinton and Biden’s roles should be reversed?