The Obama house attack
ABC News left out the McCain response in its noon report on the Obama charge. I think Obama is vulnerable on this point. Anytime Rezko is in the news it will remind people not only of his corrupt friends, but it gives me the opportunity to remind people how Rezko effected Obama's position on the war in Iraq. Obama was supportive of the administration policy from 2004 until October of 2006 when Rezko lost out on a deal in Iraq that would have been financial beneficial to Rezko.Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama’s campaign may be drawing attention to their GOP rival John McCain’s multiple houses at their own peril.
Obama’s campaign has been trying to paint McCain as an “elitist” by criticizing the homes owns with his wife, Cindy. When asked by a Politico reporter how many homes he had, McCain deflected the question to his staff because he was unsure how many condominiums Cindy currently owned.
Obama and his supporters pounced on the story. At a stop in Chester, Virginia Obama said, "If you don’t know how many houses you have, it’s not surprising you might think the economy is fundamentally strong.By the way, the answer is John McCain has seven homes. We can’t afford eight more years, or four more years, or one more year of the same failed economic policies that George Bush has put in place.” The Service Employees International Union followed suit by creating a web video titled “McCain’s Mansions” suggesting McCain is out of touch with American’s housing woes.
The McCain campaign is happily returning fire. “Does a guy who made more than $4 million last year, just got back from vacation on a private beach in Hawaii and bought his own million-dollar mansion with the help of a convicted felon really want to get into a debate about houses?” McCain spokesman Brian Rogers said Thursday.
The convicted felon Rogers referred to is Tony Rezko, who helped Obama secure a $300,000 discount on the $1.65 million mansion Obama purchased on Chicago’s South Side in 2005. As a state legislator Obama assisted Rezko in securing millions of tax dollars for housing developments.
Rezko was convicted on 16 of 24 federal corruption counts earlier this year. The charges were unrelated to Obama, but drew attention to Obama’s cozy relationship with the felon. Obama told the press his decision to become involved with Rezko “a boneheaded move.”
Over the Fourth of July Weekend, the Washington Post revealed Obama had also secured a reduced mortgage for the same home, on top of the Rezko's discount, saving him more than $300 a month in mortgage payments. "Shortly after joining the U.S. Senate and while enjoying a surge in income, Barack Obama bought a $1.65 million restored Georgian mansion in an upscale Chicago neighborhood. To finance the purchase, he secured a $1.32 million loan from Northern Trust in Illinois. The freshman Democratic senator received a discount. He locked in an interest rate of 5.625 percent on the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, below the average for such loans at the time in Chicago,” Post reporter Joe Stephens wrote.
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The Republicans have more on the Rezko business with Obama here.
Another thing I liked about the McCain response is it finally hits Obama on his creation of wealth during what he keeps calling a terrible economy. I think he is really vulnerable on this point and the McCain campaign can develop some clever ads to hit him on it. During the seven and a half years of the Bush Presidency, Obama has gone from being virtually insolvent and having his credit card refused to being a multi millionaire. The economy could not have been too bad.
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