Obama the Hypocrite

Barrack Obama has often spoke out against Hillary Clinton taking contributions from Washington lobbyists. Obama said, "In this campaign, [Clinton has] taken nearly double the amount of money from lobbyists than any Democrat or Republican running for president," he also said. "That's not being a part of the solutions business. That's being a part of business-as-usual in Washington."

Apparently Obama believes it is wrong to take money from lobbyists, but it is perfectly fine to take a land discount from a dirty political power broker, Antoin "Tony" Rezko, in the state of Illinois. Brian Ross and Rhonda Schwartz reported, "While Rezko's wife paid the full asking price for the land, Obama paid $300,000 under the asking price for the house. The house sold for $1,650,000 and the price Rezko's wife paid for the land was $625,000...Obama then expanded his property by buying a strip of the Rezko land for $104,500..." They further reported that, "An ABC News review of campaign records shows Rezko, and people connected to him, contributed more than $120,000 to Obama's 2004 campaign for the U.S. Senate, much of it at a time when Rezko was the target of an FBI investigation."

The following is another report from Tim Novak.

A few months after Obama became a U.S. senator, he and Rezko's wife, Rita, bought adjacent pieces of property from a doctor in Chicago's Kenwood neighborhood -- a deal that has dogged Obama the last two years. The doctor sold the mansion to Obama for $1.65 million -- $300,000 below the asking price. Rezko's wife paid full price -- $625,000 -- for the adjacent vacant lot. The deals closed in June 2005. Six months later, Obama paid Rezko's wife $104,500 for a strip of her land, so he could have a bigger yard. At the time, it had been widely reported that Tony Rezko was under federal investigation. Questioned later about the timing of the Rezko deal, Obama called it "boneheaded" because people might think the Rezkos had done him a favor."

Now who is Rezko? "Rezko had been widely reported to be under investigation by the U.S. attorney and the FBI at the time Obama contacted him and has since been indicted on corruption charges by a federal grand jury in a case that prosecutors say involves bribes, kickbacks and "efforts to illegally obtain millions of dollars", reports Ross and Schwartz.

Obama explains this incident by saying he made "a bone-headed mistake." Really? A bonehead mistake? It sounds more like Obama and Rezko found a way to give Obama a little under the table money. Who needs to abide by campaign rules when you can hand out cash in dirty land deals? This was not a bone-headed mistake. This was a deliberate and successful attempt to flaunt campaign rules. This was Rezko getting his fingers into Obama before he hit the big time. This reminds me of a dirty sports agent going after a 16-year-old basketball player before he makes the NBA, and like with basketball players, Obama takes the help, anything to get himself out of the "ghetto" state Senate.

I am sorry, but it is no coincidence that Rezko's wife and the Obama family just happened to purchase land next to each other. It was not merely a convenient deal for Obama to purchase the land from Rezko's wife. This was a dirty land deal and this is what Obama "hopes" people continue to ignore.

It is completely hypocritical for Obama to point his finger at Clinton after what he has done. Obviously Obama does not have to stoop to such behavior now, but there is a historical precedent here that we cannot ignore. When Obama needs something, he is more than willing to get dirty in order to get it. That sounds awful familiar...that sounds a lot like the Bush Administration.