A frosty reception for an embattled senator

updated 7:14 a.m. ET Feb. 25, 2009

WASHINGTON - Sen. Roland Burris got unmistakably polite but distant treatment from House and Senate members at President Barack Obama's address to Congress Tuesday — a sure sign of trouble in the culture of Capitol Hill.

A few nodded, smiled at him or shook his hand. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. gave him a hug on his way into the chamber.

"I did nothing wrong, Jesse. I did nothing wrong," Burris said, not needing to fill Jackson in on the calls for Burris' resignation from Illinois to Washington. Jackson nodded but didn't say much.

Burris turned, grinned and waved — it wasn't clear to whom — as he moved down the aisle between Sens. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., and John McCain, R-Ariz. They were polite, but focused elsewhere.

There were no cheers of support for Burris, the only black member of the Senate.

Someone showed Burris to his seat just under the press gallery. Nobody immediately chatted with him, so Burris held up a hand to shield him from the glare and appeared to scan the galleries, presumably for friends or family. He glanced at his program.

Members of Congress have special public rituals for pariahs who cannot, for various reasons, be ejected.

Lack of enthusiasm
At best, they show a distinct lack of made-for-TV enthusiasm for the scorned. At worst, they'll stare into the middle distance as if through Those Not to Be Acknowledged.

More commonly, they smile, but not warmly; hug everyone else and issue a polite nod or maybe back-pat to the undesirable before moving on. Rarely, they'll turn their backs or be rude. Particularly not on live television.

Burris, the Democrat from Illinois, was urged to resign hours earlier by the other Senate Democrat from Illinois, Dick Durbin. He had been appointed by disgraced former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, was resisted and then accepted by Senate Democrats only when the political cost of keeping him out ran too high.

New questions about how Burris won the appointment, and his evolving answers, generated calls for his resignation back home. Almost as soon as he hit the ground in Washington Tuesday, Durbin made the same, er, suggestion.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid didn't even make that much effort, dispatching a spokesman to say that Burris would have to make up his own mind on that.

Video   Obama: ‘We will recover’ Feb. 24: In his prime-time speech, President Obama focused on the economy, saying, “I reject the view that says our problems will simply take care of themselves.”

For Tuesday at least, Burris remained a United States senator and as such merited a seat on the House floor for Obama's address to Congress. Someone showed Burris to his seat, very near to where Obama sat last year. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., turned around and chatted with him briefly. So did Democratic Sens. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania and Kent Conrad of North Dakota.

But Sen. John Tester of Montana soon sidled in one row back and gave Casey a bear-hug. Conrad resumed speaking to someone in front of him.

And Burris spent much of the time before Obama began speaking standing between the backs of his seat mates.

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