Whatever Means Necessary?

Roland Burris’ plaintive, doth-protest-too-much mantra—“I am the junior senator from Illinois” (“…and I drive a Dodge Stratus!”)—is getting that slightly overplayed feel along the same lines as Barack Obama’s go-to line, “South Side of Chicago,” and Hillary Clinton’s sing-songy, “Hillary…Clinton…dot…com.” Here’s the thing—Burris has almost managed to maneuver into a U.S. Senate seat by pitching himself as a soft-spoken elder statesman left out in the rain by a tone-deaf, all-white senate. But today on CBS’s Face the Nation, he may have inadvertently kicked it up a notch by dropping “Whatever means necessary” on Bob Schiffer. Pump your brakes, Mr. Burris—you can do Malcolm X, or you can do father time, but trying to be both at the same time probably isn’t going to fly.