Zorn on Obama/Rezko
Eric points out that a big part of the problem of the Rezko-Obama story is self-inflicted.
Rezko’s looming trial date (it’s next month) was bound to exhume any part of the story that had died. The national media was inevitably going to want to take a crack at the tale that places Obama squarely in the skeezy milieu of Illinois politics.
And if he became a top contender, his rivals were bound to look for ways to play the Rezko card and throw him off for at least a few news cycles.
Spring of last year would have been the time for Obama and his advisers to write “The Audacity of Tony,” a meticulous, utterly honest, month-by-month, day-by-day account of all his dealings with Rezko since 1990.
Then to scrub all his political accounts of any donations somehow attributable to Rezko (instead of doing this by conspicuous degrees).
And, finally, to sit with interested reporters until he’d addressed every last question they might still have about the legal work he did for non-profits who worked with Rezko and the granular details of the real estate deal.
His failure to have done this for 15 months doesn’t speak to a guilty conscience so much as it speaks to dubious crisis-management skills.
The real questions left are less to do with the house and more to do with the relationship. In fact, the house seems somewhat settled by most who have looked into it, but the extent of Rezko’s fundraising is stuck in the fog of campaign finance reports. As it stands now, everytime anyone with a bit of connection to Rezko surfaces Obama has to account for that person and it’s a never ending cycle.
January 31st, 2008 at
Rezko was co-chair of a Bush reelection funder in 2003.
That event raised $3.5 mil for Bush-Cheney 04 and co-chairs were required to raise at least $100,000.
Gee, why isn’t anyone asking the president to explain his ties to Rezko? Is it because the guy was a major donor to a wide variety of campaigns, for both parties?
And still … not one single thing anyone can point as evidence that Obama ever did anything inappropriate (whether to help Rezko or not).
January 31st, 2008 at
As Arch said, Obama self-inflicted. No other Pols have shot themselves in the foot quite the way he has.
January 31st, 2008 at
Sure Bill. Keep telling yourself that about a front-runner who just broke a record for fundraising in one month — raising more that a million dollars a day (and more in just January than McCain raised in all of 2007). Keep telling yourself that about the candidate who is seeing poll after poll, in state after state, swing his way and firm up earlier trendlines.
I’m sure McCain and Romney would like to be so adept at shooting themselves in the foot quite the way you think Obama has…
February 1st, 2008 at
If you think Obama winning the nomination will lead McCain and the RNC to introduce Americans to Tony Rezko, you may be right.
But as credit continues to collapse, and as the mortgage market continues setting off alarms, do you really think the American public is not on the verge of being reintroduced to the name Charles Keating, Jr.?
February 1st, 2008 at
No one has shot themselves in the foot like Obama?
Are you fucking kidding me. Let’s start with the fact that there is no evidence of anything illegal. Right there points that it is a run of the mill mistake, but one with bad optics for sure.
The Republicans can try it all they like, but the reality is that the public never cared about Whitewater which was far more complex and shady looking.
Other than that, the likely nominee has suggested we stay in Iraq for 100 years. Sell that to an American public that wants out by about 80 percent in 5 years and 60% want out in 1 year.
February 1st, 2008 at
“…the likely nominee has suggested we stay in Iraq for 100 years.”
The Tribune reports two women with Down’s Syndrome entered markets with bombs strapped to them which were detonated by remote control, killing upward of 70.
It is f***ing revolting. It has literally made me sick to my stomach. And if you think the American public is going to stand by watching incidents like this and agree that we need an open-ended commitment in Iraq, you’re fooling yourself.
That “100 years” comment will haunt McCain badly.
February 1st, 2008 at
What is he thinking…?
February 1st, 2008 at
An Obama v McCain debate would be worth seeing. And whether we should be allies of those fighting people using these tactics,BAGHDAD (AP) – Two mentally retarded women strapped with remote-control explosives—and possibly used as unwitting suicide bombers—brought carnage Friday to two pet bazaars, killing at 73 people in the deadliest day since Washington flooded the capital with extra troops last spring.
or just abandoned our allies for a conference Obama proposes like this…
“I want to ask them to join our fight against terrorism. We must also listen to their concerns,” Obama said in the French-language transcript.
How can Obama expect anyone to join American in a fight with this kind of foe if they fear will walk out on them.
February 1st, 2008 at
Well, for one thing, instead of idiotic reactionary moves like renaming our salty snack foods or dumping perfectly good wine into the sewer, maybe we might consider embracing our allies, and helping them realize the fate of the western world effects them too.
You probably don’t recognize that sort of thing from the last eight years. They used to call it “diplomacy.”
February 1st, 2008 at
Bill,
You do know that the Republicans have already surrendered to the terrorists, right?