Slick Barack

Trib traces the origins of Obama's fundraising machine:

Back in July 1995, Obama's state Senate campaign received $2,000 from companies controlled by Antoin "Tony" Rezko, the politically influential Chicago businessman indicted last year on state government kickback charges. [snip]

From those modest and now-inconvenient beginnings, records and interviews show, Obama's fundraising prowess expanded in ever widening circles. The one constant: Obama, who has campaigned as a political outsider, deftly cultivated insiders in nearly every corner of the political establishment.

Yup, Rezko recognized a fellow phony-faced opportunist from Day One:

Rezko first reached out to Obama in about 1990 when the future senator made headlines as the first African-American president of the Harvard Law Review. Rezko and two real estate partners called out of the blue to offer a job building inner-city homes.

"I said no, but I remained friendly with all three of them," Obama said. "All three of them remained great contributors of mine.")

Eventually, of course, he said yes. More from today's story:

But he has made his fundraising quest more challenging by vowing not to take money from special-interest political action committees. In a recent letter to supporters about his fundraising success, Obama wrote: "We did it without taking any money from PACs or federal lobbyists. Instead, we're counting on you; on folks across America who want to take their country back and steer us to a better course."

But his U.S. Senate campaign raised at least $1.2 million of its $15 million total from special-interest PACs, according to fundraising tracker PoliticalMoneyLine.com. And in January 2005, 20 days after he was sworn into the U.S. Senate, Obama launched his own PAC, Hopefund, which raised $4.4 million over two years, making it one of the largest PACs members of Congress have established to fund other candidates.

And there are his ties to money managers who sought state business.

Let's not forget Hardball Obama working the machine to get rid of opponents from Day One as well. The man who routinely inflates his resume, often at others' expense. His quest for fast cash from his book deal, that deal struck in the slippery ethics gap between his Senate election and his taking office. Or the "visionary" who entertains his campaign manager in his Senate office.

His signature issue is his ethics. His modus operandi is slick pol, Chicago-style. Slick Barack Obama.