President-elect Barack Obama said he supports the decision by Senate Democrats to deny his vacated Senate seat to an appointee of embattled Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

Gov. Picks Burris | Lt. Gov. To Blago: 'No Way'

On Tuesday, Blagojevich appointed former Illinois Attorney General Roland Burris. He would be the nation's only black senator.

"The people of Illinois are entitled to have two United States senators represent them in Washington, D.C.," Blagojevich said during a news conference Tuesday afternoon. "As governor I am required to make this appointment."

Blagojevich has been under pressure to step aside or resign since his arrest earlier this month on federal corruption charges. He's accused of trying to sell Obama's vacant U.S. Senate seat to the highest bidder.

"Don't let allegations against me taint Burris' appointment," Blagojevich said.

Burris, standing at the governor's side, said he's eager to get to work in Washington. He said he has no connection to the charges against Blagojevich, who was arrested on Dec. 9 and accused of trying to profit from appointing Obama's replacement.

Burris, 71, became the first African-American to win statewide office in 1978, when he won the first of three terms as comptroller. He served as the Illinois' attorney general from 1990 to 1994. However, he failed in the Democratic primaries in three consecutive runs for governor -- 1994, 1998 and 2002, when he ran against Blagojevich.

Blagojevich's appointment of Burris may be an empty gesture.

Democratic leaders in the Senate are rejecting the appointment, arguing that because of accusations against Blagojevich, any appointment by him would be tainted.

In a statement, Obama called Burris a fine man but said he agreed that the Senate cannot accept an appointment from Blagojevich. Obama repeated his call for Blagojevich to resign and allow the seat to be filled by other means.

"Senate Democrats made it clear weeks ago that they cannot accept an appointment made by a governor who is accused of selling this very Senate seat," Obama said in a statement.

The president-elect spoke out after Blagojevich defied national Democrats and appointed Burris to fill the vacancy left by Obama's resignation.

Senate Democrats released a letter reiterating their view that, despite their respect for Burris, they would vote not to allow him to be seated as a senator. By the end of the day, the move by Blagojevich had Democrats sniping among themselves in stark racial terms.

"I will ask you to not hang and lynch the appointee as you try to castigate the appointer," Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., said during a Chicago news conference with Blagojevich and Burris.

"Let me just remind you that there presently is no African-American in the U.S. Senate," said Rush, who is black. "I don't think that anyone -- any U.S. senator who's sitting in the Senate right now -- wants to go on record to deny one African-American for being seated in the U.S. Senate."

Senate Democrats needed no reminder that blocking one black man to fill the seat of another might not go over well in a party whose presidential candidate soon would become the nation's first African-American commander in chief.

The governor has denied wrongdoing and hasn't shown any hint that he would vacate his office.

Lawmakers in Springfield are considering whether to proceed with plans to impeach him.

Meanwhile, federal prosecutors want a court to allow lawmakers investigating Blagojevich to hear tapes of four potentially incriminating phone calls the governor had with a lobbyist.

U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald filed a motion Monday seeking court permission to give a House impeachment committee the conversations secretly recorded by wiretaps.

According to the motion, the conversations show Blagojevich conspiring with a lobbyist to collect a campaign contribution in exchange for the governor signing gambling legislation.

Blagojevich's attorney, Ed Genson, has played down the significance of the wiretaps. He has repeatedly told the committee that the quotes included in a federal complaint against Blagojevich don't reveal any criminal activity.