Obama; Yes, you opened a can of worms

[Sunshine Chick]

Originally Posted by TuborgP

come out how many posts did you personally make on this topic months ago? Rezko, Ayers, Wright. You must have had dozens.

And you have had dozens predicting things that turned out to be wrong !!

[LNTT_Vacationer]

Originally Posted by via chicago

How about dealing in facts...



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1. The deal could have gone down without Rezko.

While it's true that the couple who sold the house to the Obamas and the adjoining vacant lot to Rezko's wife required the deals to close on the same day, there was at least one other serious bidder on the lot.

2. The Obamas did not get a special discount on the house.

Yes, the original asking price was $1.95 million and the sale price was $1.65 million, but the sellers have confirmed that the sale price was the result of routine real estate negotiations and was the best offer they received on the house.

3. The sellers rejected two lower bids from the Obamas.

The Obamas first offered $1.3 million and then $1.5 million before agreeing with the sellers to the $1.65 million price.

4. The Rezkos did not pay an inflated price for the vacant lot.

Obama has said his broker told him another interested party had already put in a bid on the lot at or close to the asking price of $625,000. No one has challenged this assertion.

5. The Obamas did not get a special discount from the Rezkos when they later purchased a one-sixth strip of the vacant lot to enlarge their yard.

The price the Obamas paid, $104,500, was a neat one-sixth of the price of the lot and more than double the value Obama said his appraiser put on the strip. The remaining portion of the vacant lot reportedly sold earlier this year for $675,000.

6. The Obamas did not receive or borrow any money from the Rezkos to buy their house.

They took out a $1.3 million mortgage and paid the balance with proceeds from Obama's best-selling books.

7. Obama hasn't done any political or personal favors for Rezko since this saga began.

The lone example critics cite is that Obama allowed the son of a Rezko business associate to serve a one-month unpaid internship in his office in 2005.

8. The reason Obama is nevertheless correct in describing his actions here as "boneheaded" is that Rezko is and was a sleazeball.

Many of the warning signs were obvious in 2005 and Obama blew through them.
That doesn't reflect well on him, I agree. But neither does it turn this otherwise ordinary real estate story into a scandal or excuse those who can't or don't want to keep the above facts straight.

I could quibble over a few dollars but really don't disagree with all of the above. (Other than the small fact that Obama was writing letters to get Rezko $15 mil in govt business while this was going down.) The one nagging issue is, to this day, Obama maintains Rezko buying the lot on the same day, from the same seller, was a coincidence that he knew nothing about until later. And that he doesn't recall (either way) discussing the desired property/home issue with him beforehand. It's a lawyerly type statement needed because the whole thing is so shady it must be dismissed as unrehearsed.

[ArkansasTraveler]

Originally Posted by Bud Dickman

How many people has Bush killed?

Not as many as Abraham Lincoln put his signature on to be shot.