V. Obama’s Heart of Darkness: Rezko, Auchi, Alsammarae, and Chicago Graft 189when he was managing the career of boxer Muhammad Ali, according to a May 2005 profile in the
Chicago Tribune. Rezko moved into real estate and political fundraising, often a combustible
combination in Chicago. Rezko offered Obama a job with his real estate company soon after they
met, around 1991, but Obama declined. When Obama decided to run for the state Senate in 1995,
Rezko was his “first substantial contributor,” according to the Tribune. That money relationship
continued, with Rezko raising as much as $250,000 over the course of Obama’s five Illinois races,
reported the Chicago Sun-Times. The friendship may have reflected the fact that both men were
outsiders, trying to establish themselves in the rough-and-tumble world of Chicago. Obama told the
Sun-Times last month: “My assessment of Tony Rezko was that he was an immigrant who had sort
of pulled himself up by his bootstraps. ... I think he saw me as somebody who had talent, but he was
probably also intrigued by my international background.” Part of what Obama says he liked about
Rezko was his graciousness: “He never asked me for anything.” The relationship became
controversial because of the now-famous home-purchase deal: When Obama and his wife bought a
$1.65 million house in Chicago in June 2005, Rezko’s wife simultaneously bought the adjoining lot
and later sold part of it back to the Obamas so that they could have a bigger yard. Obama conceded
in an interview with the Chicago Tribune last month that in the real estate deal, “I made a mistake in
not seeing the potential conflicts of interest or appearances of impropriety.” He said of Rezko’s
motivation in buying the adjoining lot, “He perhaps thought that this would strengthen our
relationship. He could have even thought he was doing me a favor.” What’s troubling about this
story is that at the time Obama bought the house in June 2005, allegations had already surfaced
about Rezko’s alleged influence-peddling. A Feb. 13, 2005, story in the Chicago Tribune criticized
Rezko’s receipt of lucrative state contracts to operate restaurants on Illinois toll roads; an April 8,
2005, story said he was “under fire from Chicago’s city hall” because his restaurant chain had taken
two spots at O’Hare airport designated for minority firms; a May 17 article reported that Rezko had
been subpoenaed in a corruption probe. (David Ignatius, “Obama and the Chicago Insider,”
Washington Post, April 20, 2008)
Obama’s absurd claim that Rezko “never asked me for anything” shows his real contempt for the
intelligence of voters, and in any serious presidential debate he would have been questioned
mercilessly on this point. But Ignatius, a drooling acolyte of the Perfect Master, is more than
willing to accept this nonsense at face value.
OBAMA’S DON’T ASK, DON’T TELL POLICY FOR GRAFT
Obama returns to this particular lie (the one about Rezko never having asked him for any favors
whatsoever) again and again, like a dog to its vomit:
...Obama has continuously claimed that Rezko never asked him for favors. On November 5,
2006, the Sun-Times published his answers to questions that were submitted to him after the
news of the real estate deal with Rezko surfaced, and Obama stated: “I have never been asked to
do anything to advance his business interests.” A day later, on November 6, 2006, he told
reporters in Waukegan Illinois, “He had never asked me for anything. I’d never done anything
for him.” In December 2006, he told the Washington Post: “I’ve known him for 15 years.” “He
had never asked me to do anything.” (Evelyn Pringle, opednews.com)
Even the chickens are laughing at Obama’s mendacity.
But the record indicates that Obama did a large number of very dirty favors redolent of graft and
corruption for his sugar daddy Rezko.