What does the Right claim that Obama has ever done for Rezko? Pay-to-Play is a two way street. Receiving donations is not inappropriate behavior in our campaign system. Returning favors as services for contributions is obviously objectionable. What does the Right claim Obama’s done?
Accepting donations from unprosecuted individuals with a clean record is common practice. Following Rezko’s indictment, Obama gave his donations away. Obama has already publicly stated that he regretted buying land from Rezko – in 2006, in fact. But what he did was not illegal. Despite that, Obama goes so far as to say:
“There’s no doubt that this was a mistake on my part. ‘Boneheaded’ would be accurate,” Obama said in a telephone interview Friday. “There’s no doubt I should have seen some red flags in terms of me purchasing a piece of property from him.”
This degree of candor is something rarely seen in a politician – and it’s something we should all welcome.
There’s only a story here if the Right can show that Obama has acted improperly by granting political/legal favors to Rezko in abuse of his powers as an elected official. Short of that, this is just more noise from the beleaguered Right.
