Obama Wasn’t Totally Truthful On Rezko Donations..Isn’t That Really Just A Lie?

Posted by on 3/14/2008

He finally sat down with the Chicago Tribune today. Here is what we learned:

  • Rezko raised as much as $250,000 for the first three offices Obama sought
  • Obama also said for the first time that his private real estate transactions with Rezko involved repeated lapses of judgment.

    • What was the lapse?

    “The mistake was he had been a contributor and somebody involved in politics,” he said.

  • Obama said that voters concerned about his judgment should view it as “a mistake in not seeing the potential conflicts of interest.”

    • Keep in mind that he has a JD from Harvard Law School, where he was Editor of the Harvard Law Review

  • Obama said that when he questioned Rezko about news reports of his questionable political dealings, his friend assured him there was nothing wrong. “My instinct was to believe him,” he said.
  • Asked if he ever thought Rezko would expect something from their relationship, Obama was definitive. “No, precisely because I’d known him for [many] years and he hadn’t asked me for favors.”

    • The article ends with this note:

  • The following year, Obama was elected, then re-elected in 1998. Rezko helped bankroll Obama’s subsequent campaigns: Obama lost a primary bid for the U.S. House of Representatives in 2000 but won re-election repeatedly as a state senator and then was sworn into the U.S. Senate in January 2005. Rezko, already under indictment by the time Obama announced his presidential run, has not contributed to or raised funds for that race.

    • That isn’t exactly true:

  • When Obama ran for the U.S. Senate, Rezko held a June 27, 2003, cocktail party in Rezko’s Wilmette mansion, picking up the tab for the lavish event. Obama’s campaign staff has said it has no records to show who attended that party, or how much it cost.

    • Obama campaign aides said Friday he was unaware Rezko was behind the contributions cited in last month’s court filing or that the document referred to the senator.

    “We have no way of knowing he is the politician named here,” spokesman Bill Burton said, “but we returned this money months ago for other reasons.”
    Obama donated more than $44,000 in Rezko-linked contributions to charity last year, including the $10,000 donation mentioned in the court filing.

    That money was donated to Obama by Joseph Aramanda, a Glenview businessman and Rezko associate who, sources have said, is the “Individual D” prosecutors say received the $250,000 in finder’s fees demanded by Rezko. Individual D did nothing to earn those fees, according to prosecutors.

    The $10,000 contribution to Obama was given in Aramanda’s name on March 5, 2004, records show. While Obama’s camp has said the senator did not know Aramanda, Obama’s office hired Aramanda’s son as an intern in 2005, at Rezko’s urging.

    So much for honesty! I hope that changes

    Ed notes:

    Here’s Obama on why he’s the better candidate:

    In a dangerous world, it’s judgment that matters.

    And here’s Obama on his Rezko entanglement:

    Obama also said for the first time that his private real estate transactions with Rezko involved repeated lapses of judgment.

    Barack Obama, Democrats, General Politics, National News, Presidential Election '08

    5 Comments.

    2. Hyscience - trackback on 3/14/2008 at March 14, 2008 - 08:38 PM
    4. Charles Nickalopoulos 11/2/2008 at November 2, 2008 - 10:27 PM

      Liberals have a different set of standards. If Obama wins, we will have to listen to a lot more.

      There is no way Obama could do half of the things he promised.

    5. Charles Nickalopoulos 11/2/2008 at November 2, 2008 - 10:36 PM

      If Obama wins, everyone will need to put on some rose-colored glasses, because suddenly the news media will start saying how wonderful things are.

      I wish this was a joke, but it is grim reality; it
      is too real, and if Obama goes too far, the US military may end up taking over! The trouble is: how much of the country he would give away>

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