The smart move by Obama is to DIRECTLY ADDRESS his REZKO problem NOW...

There is no doubt this is an issue will continue to dog Obama until he addresses it.

IF there is nothing damaging about Obama's relationship to and transactions with Rezko, he needs to address the entire situation right now.

Rezko is going to receive lots of headlines and attention leading up to his February 25 trial date. And this trial on a 24 count indictment will be followed by another trial on other charges against Rezko. Press coverage will extensive, and Obama's name will likely come up within the swirling press accounts.

Sometimes the drip...drip...drip of bad news is a lot more damaging than that which occurs when the candidate makes a full and immediate disclosure of all the bad news, and puts it behind him. If Obama took this approach he could at least 'get out in front of the worst of it.'

Keep in mind that 'bad news' should always be fully disclosed BEFORE the Party Nominee is chosen, NOT AFTERWARD. And if you directly address an issue with the public, many times that takes the air out of any attempt by your opponents to use it later in the General Election.

If Obama does not take proactive steps to head off this problem, he may find the opportunity to address this on his own terms has passed him by.

Here is a link to a recent press account regarding the Rezko trial:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ap-il-fundraiserindicte,0,2340035.story

is posting Hillay op-research on her blog like she did all the work.

over the past 8 years before it bites them in their aging boomer arses. They've been at this crap longer. Look at their pal, Hsu.

No problem with that but call it for what it is. Perhaps Bill Clinton should say more about his relationship with Burkle, but Obama needs to deal with his relationship with Rezko. This is a media story on it's early legs, and now is the best time to get in front of it for Obama.


Why did you insert "baby boomers" into your comment? How is that relevent or helpful?

glass house shouldn't throw stones. Let's take a close look at the sources of money H.C. is getting, namely, her chief fund raiser, Terry McAucliffe's connections to BIG sleaze.

Do you think he is really going to discuss it now, its like opening pandora's box and will give the press the free for all.

I agree, he should discuss it properly now however it seems his campaign is speaking for him on it and not him, that may look to people as though he does'nt want to say anything.

He's already up to here with the Reagan thing. He can't start another big explanation.

from the looks of things it`s going to be about the governor and other politicians in illinois. we have been waiting for fitzgerald to nail the governor and his friends and this looks like it`s going to happen. no one is going to shed a tear in illinois if blago goes down along with his friends.

if obama is dirty then i guess we will have another special election in illinois. which would mean there`s a really good chance a republican will take the senate seat

obama has already said what he is going to say for now. i guess we will just have to see what happens

No Question, the msm would not resist, it would be like gold to them.

I think i smell bullshit

I raise you to a government watchdog group that once lauded Obama for leadership on ethics says the Illinois senator should have known better.

"Everybody in this town knew that Tony Rezko was headed for trouble," said Jay Stewart of the Better Government Assn. in Chicago. "When he got indicted, there wasn't a single insider who was surprised. It was viewed as a long time coming. . . . Why would you be having anything to do with Tony Rezko, particularly if you're planning to run for president?"

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-rezko23jan23,1,2983892.story?track=crosspromo&coll=la-headlines-nation&ctrack=2&cset=true

I don't know who crafted this response, but it now stakes him to certain factual assertions that will be proven inaccurate. If you are going to 'come clean' and put something behind you, it is imperative that you get the facts correct.

This statement will come back to haunt him:

"Nobody had an inkling that he was involved in any problems. When those problems were discovered, we returned money from him that had been contributed."

If this fact is true, it undermines the provisio 'When those problems were discovered, we returned money from him....'

COMPARE: "During the weekend, Obama gave to charity more than $40,000 in past political contributions linked to Rezko."


This is not the carefully crafted damage control statement that was needed.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080123/ap_on_el_pr/obama

Obama seeks distance from indicted donor 31 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - Barack Obama sought to distance himself Wednesday from a real estate developer and fast-food magnate facing federal corruption charges, saying he had no indication of any problems when he accepted thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from Antoin "Tony" Rezko.

"My relationship is he was somebody who I knew and had been a supporter for many years, he was somebody who had supported a wide range of candidates all throughout Illinois," the Democratic presidential candidate said in an interview with CBS' "Early Show." "Nobody had an inkling that he was involved in any problems. When those problems were discovered, we returned money from him that had been contributed."

Obama, an Illinois senator, also said it was a mistake for him to have purchased a strip of land from Rezko's wife. The land adjoins the Obamas' Chicago home. Rezko was widely reported to be under grand jury investigation at the time. "In terms of appearances, and I've already said this, that I should not have entered into any kind of agreement with him," Obama told ABC's "Good Morning America."

Obama has also given to charity about $37,000 in contributions to his Senate campaign and political action committee that were linked to Rezko. Rezko also raised tens of thousands of dollars for Obama's state legislative and Senate races.

During the weekend, Obama gave to charity more than $40,000 in past political contributions linked to Rezko. The contributions were from seven individuals who contributed to Obama's House and Senate campaigns. None of the money was for his current presidential bid."

MORE

He met him in law school, his wife and rezko's wife were friends for years, his wife associated with Rezko's employees. Barack asked him for help getting a house, Barack wrote letters supporting his projects that were actually slums, Barack did lawyer work for him. Barack took money for campaign contributions when he was desperate for funds. Rezko's associates kept providing money. Barack gave a senate internship to one of Rezko's friends when he was asked to, Barack underpaid for the property, etc etc etc Shall i go on.

You get my drift.

I think thats a pretty good proof of a relationship. Would'nt you. it doesnt pass the smell test.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-re...

amazing, how Obama chose to hide this...even forming an Ethics Commission. Which we have recently found out, is an ineffective LAME DUCK, the way he crafted the legislation, the Ethics Commissions hands are now tied, rendering it useless.

Seems like the more snooping they are doing, the more its unravelling

and weaving what they already know into a somewhat cogent story. Rezko's face is splattered all over with a scanned pic of the indictment papers. They're mentioning after this Trial, Rezko is facing other charges of swindling a huge corporation out millions.

The question I have is how is it this man with a dubious background, is eligible for a contract for construction of a Nuclear Reactor in Iraq?

For the life of me I can't understand if he had no involvement with Rezko, why Obama didn't put this story to rest months ago. Just from what I read today, I had no idea Michelle and Rezko's wife were best of friends. That was a surprise considering Obama's statement during the debate.."I did about 5 hrs of work for him." Obama never mentioned they were close family friends with a long history of a personal relationship. At the debate, Obama spoke of him in passing as if he was a transient client.

He made it sound like he was representing a Church group and his dealings with Rezko were only tangential.

I thought at the time... he is going to regret this answer.

It opens him up to questions about his credibility when he has to release various versions of what happened and a true characterization of his relationship to Rezko.

if he wasn't an attorney. Apparently his teacher/mentor, Laurence Tribe, has taught him well the art of ambiguity. However, Obama has gone far beyond the scope of relative Truthfulness and created his own 'universe of conduct' which in his mind is socially and legally acceptable as 'somewhat' True but far and away from the 'Whole Truth.'

That is just stunning.

Do you have a link?

MENAFN) Rezmar Corp., a real estate development company entered into a joint venture with a British firm in a $150-million deal to build a power plant in Iraq.

The contract, signed with Iraq's ministry of electricity, calls for joint venture to supply power to Iraq for 10 years, according to a spokesman for Chicago-based Rezmar.

The 250-megawatt power plant is slated to be one of three power plants under construction at the same time. A Brazilian firm and an Iraqi company are building the other two.

The Rezmar joint venture will be based in Jordan. Construction is slated to begin this fall.

http://www.menafn.com/qn_news_story_s.asp?storyid=102117

Rezmar CEO leaving over project

(the original link was scrubbed...but cached)

Chicago Sun-Times, Oct 4, 2005 by David Roeder

Developer Daniel Mahru, whose plans for new homes and stores on 62 acres south of downtown have been sidetracked by controversy, said Monday he has sold his stake in the project and that he's severing most ties with longtime business partner Antoin "Tony" Rezko.

Mahru said he's stepping down as chief executive of Rezmar Corp., the development firm he and Rezko founded in 1989. He said Rezko bought out his stake in the project for a price he wouldn't disclose.

At the same time, Rezko and partners are selling the property at Roosevelt and Clark for $131.5 million. The buyer is a U.S. operating unit of General Mediterranean Holding SA, a conglomerate whose chairman is British businessman Nadhmi Auchi.

http://64.233.169.104/search?q=cache:oxORmjNoJl4J:findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4155/is_20051004/ai_n15811302+Rezmar+Iraq&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=5&gl=us

If you really want to make yourself sick, here is another story placing Obama linked to another person of interest! I'm beginning to think you could create a charm bracelet of suspects

Maybe there is NO ADEQUATE REASONABLE EXPLANATION that Obama can put out.

Even so, silence is no friend of his Campaign. And even worse is an attempt to 'spin' facts which can be proven to be inaccurate.

I just don't understand the strategy his Campaign advisors are executing here.

Or is it possible they have no strategy to deal with this??

That just wouldnt fly.

If not, why did you not give back or donate the $40k before this weekend, and after Hillary called you on it?"

You don't have to be a genius to figure out in advance what the next question will be.

This WILL be a major hurdle for Obama to get past, and so far he has not instilled much confidence in his ability to handle it.

There are Red Flags all over the place. If anyone were to digg-in, there is so much that is hidden as each contact point has a shady story behind it worth investigating ..This is like peeling the layers of an onion. Peel one layer and you find another one under it revealing many layers yet to expose.

If Obama were to get the Dem nomination, the Republicans would have him Tarred and Feathered within 48hrs and we'd be out in the COLD again stuck with another Pug, likely, Romney for the next 8 yrs. Jaysus!

continue to haunt Obama throughout the election. I doubt that Hillary will let it go and the media will jump on that bandwagon for ratings.

You've probably seen this already, but just in case, here's a link to and article from the Tribune today about Obama and Rezko:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-obama-rezko-clinton-080122,0,5430503.story?coll=chi_tab01_layout

Isn't telling all. I read this morning, Mrs. Rezko was a classmate of Michelles.' So it isn't like Obama met Rezko on the street or as a walk in client. This is really beginning to swell into a really big problem because so much is being hidden.