Obama seems to be using this Friday to mark the end of the beginning, and get some issues behind him.
In addition to taking a sterner stance on sermons from Jeremiah Wright and separating wright from a campaign advisory committee, he also has done interviews with the Chicago Tribune and Sun-Times on Rezko.
There don't seem to have been any bombshells, but Obama said Rezko had raised more money for him over the course of his political career than previously admitted -- about $250,000 -- and he did some more breastbeating and mea culpas about having used poor judgment by getting into a real estate deal with Rezko at a time when Chicago papers were raising questions about the developer/fixer:
"Obama said that when he questioned Rezko about news reports of his questionable political dealings, his friend assured him there was nothing wrong. 'My instinct was to believe him,' he said.
"Asked if he ever thought Rezko would expect something from their relationship, Obama was definitive. 'No, precisely because I'd known him for [many] years and he hadn't asked me for favors.' "
Comments (2)
There's an old Spanish proverb that translates, "Tell me with whom you walk and I will tell you who you are." [A man is known by the company he keeps.]
Getting yourself pastored by a radical hater shows bad judgment. Lying about it when asked by the media shows dishonesty. Request for presidency denied.
--klqtzz