Rezko damage or fallout would be self-inflicted

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

(I posted this in General Discussion in error - my apologies to all)

I really, really believe that nothing illegal or untoward happened, but just like some of John McCain's issues, it the APPEARANCE of impropriety that does the harm.

My opinion, based on what I have read, is that Obama most likely asked a developer he personally knew if the developer would be interested in buying a lot next to the house he wanted to buy and would the developer in the future agree to sell him a strip of land? Both Obama and the developer paid full market value for the house, the lot, and the strip of land from the lot.(How the developer financed his part of the deal has NOTHING to do with Obama)

There is NOTHING wrong with this! BUT, Obama is guilty of hedging, omitting, giving conflicting accounts, and just trying to squash the whole thing in general. Not because he did anything wrong, but because he instinctively was trying to minimize something that was giving off a bad odor. If he had just stated the facts of the situation as I did above, I don't think there would have been any problem. As they always say, it's the cover-up that gets you in trouble.

The irony with Obama is trying to cover-up (actually, a better word would be to minimize) something that was not illegal to begin with. Now he is going to have to do some back-tracking with his previous statements and that will lead people to believe that he is not as trustworthy as they thought he was.

This does not sway my overall good opinion of him. No person or politician is flawless and we all try to protect our image of ourselves and others image of us all the time.

[RBInMaine]

1. Hillary and Norman Hsu. Here you go:

OK Hillary people, want to try to make hay of the Rezco thing out of obvious frustration and desperation (something which has been vetted and ZERO wrongdoing found on Obama's part), try to defend her cozy relationship with the convicted and jailed Noram Hsu. Go ahead. Defend it. Drop the hypocrisy.

Hsu Raised Big Money for Clinton and Supporters
Candidates She Courted Benefit
By Scott Helman, Globe Staff | September 26, 2007

Disgraced fund-raiser Norman Hsu did a lot more than just pump $850,000 into Hillary Clinton's campaign bank account: He also raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for local, state, and federal candidates who have endorsed Clinton or whose support she courted.


In at least some cases, Clinton or her aides directly channeled contributions from Hsu and his network to other politicians supportive of her presidential campaign, according to interviews and campaign finance records. There is nothing illegal about one politician steering wealthy contributors to another, but the New York senator's close ties to Hsu have become an embarrassment for her and her campaign.

Last fall, as the Nevada governor's race was heating up, Clinton agreed to help raise money for Democrat Dina Titus, a prominent party leader in a state that holds a key early presidential caucus. Clinton arranged for Hsu, at the time a little-known New York apparel executive with no apparent reason to take interest in Nevada politics, to give Titus $5,000 on Nov. 3, according to a person with knowledge of Clinton's fund-raising.

And in February, when former Iowa governor Tom Vilsack ended his own White House bid, he was about $450,000 in the red. A month after dropping out, Vilsack endorsed Clinton, and Clinton agreed to help him retire his debts. (Both insisted there was no quid pro quo.)

Over the next few months, some of Clinton's biggest fund-raisers gave Vilsack checks, including Hsu, who kicked in the maximum allowable contribution, $2,300, on May 3 after attending an event organized by Clinton's campaign, Newsweek reported this month. An associate of Hsu's, Paul Su, chipped in $1,000 on the same day.

In other cases, Clinton helped direct Hsu's money to influential politicians who have yet to endorse her but hail from key presidential primary states. Clinton raised at least $6,000 from Hsu and his network last year for Governor John Lynch of New Hampshire, according to Lynch aides. Lynch has no plans to endorse anyone before the state's crucial January primary, aides said.

And at least some of the $17,000 that Governor Jennifer Granholm of Michigan collected from Hsu and his associates in 2005 and 2006 stems from a Nov. 29, 2005, fund-raising reception for her hosted by Steven Rattner, a New York investment firm executive and major Clinton donor seen as a candidate for US Treasury secretary if Clinton wins. Granholm's office said she has not made an endorsement decision.Continued...

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

2. I'm not a Hillary person. I plan on voting for Obama.

That doesn't mean that I can't discuss an issue intelligently that probably won't go away and may grow larger in the future. As I have said over and over - there is no there there with Obama and Rezko. He himself, however contributed to that impression.

I'm not sure what I would tell him to do at this point. The whole point of my post was simply that this was a self-created problem because he just didn't confront the truth head-on initially.

[sandnsea]

3. He did state the facts and called it bone-headed

Years ago when this first came up, and repeatedly since. There is no there there, but it will be a story because Hillary's supporters will never let it die and will leap at the chance to say "told you so" every time the name is mentioned for the next ten years.

But Chatwal, Gupta, Giustra, Hsu, Chung, Huang, Trie... I guess it's sexist to talk about them.