A scandal is brewing around presidential candidate Barak Obama, according to Charles Jaco of KTVI. Tonight, he reported on questions raised around Obama's purchase of his Chicago mansion in 2005 for $1.65 million. Apparently, the purchase price was about $300,000 less than the asking price and the sale commenced on the same day as the wife of a political supporter bought the vacant lot next door for $650,000. Jaco's report states that there is a suspicion that the supporter's wife overpaid for the vacant lot so that Obama could get his mansion at a discount.Questions about this land deal are surfacing now because the political supporter referenced is Tony Rezko, whose unrelated corruption trial (which involves another Illinois Democrat, governor Rod Blagojevich) begins in Chicago on Monday.
Jaco's report draws on (and cites) an article from Tuesday's Times of London. This article raises even more serious questions about Obama. It reports that Rezko received a loan from a British-Iraqi billionaire named Nadhmi Auchi (who has already been convicted of corruption in France) shortly before the Obama real estate transaction. The Times questions whether or not Auchi was really the one helping Obama buy his mansion.
While not going into specifics, "Obama now admits his involvement in the land deal was a 'boneheaded mistake.'" Corruption usually is a mistake, even if it has been the norm in Illinois over the years.
The whole story reeks of a corrupt wealthy foreigner buying influence with an up-and-coming American politician . . . one who is now on the verge of the Democrat's presidential nomination.
If Barak Obama is capable of making such a "boneheaded mistake" and allowing himself to be involved in a deal as suspicious as this one, can the country really trust him in the Oval Office?
4 comments:
You could dig up the same type of corruption on every politian in Washington, Democrat or Republican.
Does that make it right?
Absolutely not. My point is that you can't really use that as a point of difference when selecting who to vote for because if you dig deep enough, anyone in Washington has similar faults.
Of the three remaining contenders for the presidency, you're probably right. And that's a sad statement about politics in 2008.
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