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Friday, January 25, 2008 12:00 AM

Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and Tony Rezko

A "gotcha" that wasn't for one candidate, a need to "come clean" for another.

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  • Friday, January 25, 2008 12:05 PM

    This is Obama's problem with Rezko

    Obama’s real problem is the land deal. There was a house and a lot adjoining which were put up for sale by the same seller to be sold together. Obama could not afford both. So his long time friend and patron Rezko (through Rezko’s wife) bought the lot for full price, while Obama bought the house for $300,000 off the asking price. The purchase was coordinated (and both sales closed on the same day); if Rezko did not buy, Obama would not have been able to buy. Moreover, it would seem that Obama got the full benefit of the negotiated reduction in price.

    What Obama did here was to put himself in a position where he certainly appeared to be (if not in fact was) beholden to a known influence peddler.

    By the way, this is not ancient history. It happened only two years ago!

    That was an egregious lapse in judgement, at minimum. Even he admitted it was “boneheaded”.

    So the question for the Democrats is whether this who you want running against the Republicans. If you think Hillary’s attacks are bad, what do you think they will do with this?

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