John Kass, a columnist at the Chicago Tribune, laid into Obama this week with the novel argument that Obama temporarily suppressed evidence of Roland Burris's fundraising fraud in order to gain Burris's crucial final vote for the stimulus bill. Right. Because what Obama wants is more connection to the Spanish-language soap opera that is Illinois politics. As David Waldman notes this is what happens when pundits don't bother to learn Senate rules. Burris's presence made it harder, not easier, to pass the stimulus bill. Cloture on a filibuster is not set at 60 votes. It's set at 3/5ths of sitting senators. 3/5ths of 98 -- remember, Minnesota's seat remains vacant as Norm Coleman examines dust motes on absentee ballots -- is 59. Which means Obama would have needed two Republican votes, not three, easing the bill's path to passage. Having 99 senators is actually the worst position to be in: You need the maximum number of votes to achieve cloture but you have the minimum number of senators able to offer those votes. Whoops.
