Obama's Rezko 'Housing Problem'

McCain campaign fires back at Obama's slam about McCain's heiress wife's properties. Do you really want to talk about "housing problems" Obama? The McCain campaign fired back yesterday with the statement below and today with this ad.

"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?"

"Does a guy who worries about the price of arugula and thinks regular people 'cling' to guns and religion in the face of economic hardship really want to have a debate about who's in touch with regular Americans?"

Maybe not. Wesley Pruden at the Washington Times gives the rundown on Rezko:

The contretemps may (or may not be) irrelevant to the consideration of presidential qualifications, but it brings to the fore the figure of Tony Rezko, the Chicago fixer who has loomed large in Mr. Obama's life, and who the campaign has worked mightily to keep in the shadows.

Rezko was convicted in June of wire and mail fraud, money laundering and aiding and abetting bribery, nothing in particular to blemish a Chicago pol's reputation, but a reputation-killer everywhere else (excluding New Jersey, Louisiana and Bill Clinton's Hot Springs). Mr. Obama himself has so far not been fingered as accomplice or unindicted anything, but his long association with Rezko and others threatens the story line that he was born in a stable in Bethlehem.

When questions were raised in the past about what he and Rezko did together, and when did they do it, Mr. Obama retreated to bromides about all the good things he has done for little children, cute kittens and adorable puppies. "I've always held myself to the highest ethical standards," he told the Chicago Sun-Times on one occasion when reality seemed to be closing in. "I know what people expect of me." That's enough for his glassy-eyed cult, but it's a story line likely to wilt in the heat and glare of a presidential campaign.

How did he get his house for $300,000 less than the asking price on the same day that Rezko's wife paid the full price to the same seller for a vacant lot next door? Why did he later pay Rezko $104,500 for a 10-foot wide strip of that vacant lot that appraisers had said was worth $40,000?

These are happy coincidences in the Chicago world of Barack Obama, but in the place where the rest of us live who could sell such cheerful explanations?

Tip to the Obama campaign. When you've got a skeleton in the closet, don't open the door and point to it. What the late Casey Stengel said about the fumbling, bumbling newborn N.Y. Mets applies to the Obama campaign, "Doesn't anybody here know how to play this game?"

P.S. How many houses does McCain actually own? Answer, none. All the properties in the family are owned by his wife, the beer baron heiress. Hey, how can you fault a guy who marries a beautiful blonde who owns a beer company? Works for me.