Obama Stumped

A nice recap of what's lurking just under the surface in Obama's political stomping grounds. We know Illinois Senate president Emil Jones is the one who gave Obama credit for what little legislative record he had in Illinois, for which the Obama office papers are conveniently sparse. Here are a few cute bits about Emil Jones. Then there is of course the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, but also perhaps the Rev. James Meeks (and Father Michael Pfleger), as well as domestic terrorist Bill Ayers, and Tony Rezko. University of Chicago professor of international politics and author Charles Lipson, "Four Stumps in the Water for Obama":

Rezko's connection to Obama began well before Obama ran for office. Rezko spotted him early, figured he might be a rising star, and helped secure funds for his initial campaigns. Rezko's role raises questions because no one has ever accused him of being a civic-minded fellow who simply enjoys political fundraising because he delights in good government. Skeptical souls want to know what Rezko sought in return for his support and whether he got it.

If Rezko is convicted--a real possibility--those inquiring minds might find out, or at least they would find out what Rezko has to say. If Rezko is staring at a long prison sentence, prosecutors will have a big carrot to dangle in front of him, but only if he names the biggest players.

Where does Obama figure in all this, aside from being a recipient of Rezko's campaign cash? No one knows for sure, but suspicion centers on one particular real estate deal.

What did Rezko want in return? Who knows, but some of the (laughable) testimony in the trial mentioned Rezko thought Gov. Blagojevich might someday run for president. Sun Times:

Levine also said he met up with Rezko's family on a 2004 Puerto Vallarta spring-break trip. He said Rezko told him he had to leave Mexico early to return to Chicago to organize a reception for an Iraqi-born billionaire whom Rezko was trying to get to invest in a big development he planned in the South Loop. Levine flew Rezko's wife and three children back to Chicago with him and his family on a chartered jet.

Levine said his discussions with Rezko included talk of Levine's roles on two state boards: the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board and the state Teachers' Retirement System board. Levine said Rezko once told him: " 'Stuart, anything that I decide to do at TRS, you will be a partner in.' "

After that, Levine said he and Rezko started to meet more frequently. When Levine and Rezko talked about the governor, Rezko told him he had high aspirations for Blagojevich.

"He had raised a great deal of money for Gov. Blagojevich," Levine said. "He had great hopes and expectations that Gov. Blagojevich would run for president."

This of course calls Rezko's judgment into question, but hey, he's not running for president, just stuck in jail as a flight risk. Who was that Iraqi born billionaire (Obama met at the Four Seasons at Tony Rezko's request) anyway, hmm?

Obama may be stumped for an answer on why he made the judgment to call on Tony Rezko one more time to give him the Hyde Park house tour, even as Rezko faced criminal charges.

And he may be stumped on a few other matters as well.

UPDATE: So perhaps Obama is not inevitable, perhaps Hilllary has a chance. Barack getting fact-checked in another area--WaPo, "Obama Overstates Kennedy's Role in Helping His Father":

Addressing civil rights activists in Selma, Ala., a year ago, Sen. Barack Obama traced his "very existence" to the generosity of the Kennedy family, which he said paid for his Kenyan father to travel to America on a student scholarship and thus meet his Kansan mother.

(!) Cringe-worthy.

"So the Kennedys decided 'we're going to do an airlift,' " Obama continued. " 'We're going to go to Africa and start bringing young Africans over to this country and give them scholarships to study so they can learn what a wonderful country America is.' This young man named Barack Obama got one of those tickets and came over to this country. He met this woman whose great-great-great-great-grandfather had owned slaves. . . . So they got together and Barack Obama Jr. was born."

A more accurate version of the story would begin not with the Kennedys but with a Kenyan nationalist leader named Tom Mboya, who traveled to the United States in 1959 and 1960 to persuade thousands of Americans to support his efforts to educate a new African elite. Mboya did not approach the Kennedys for financial support until Obama Sr. was already studying in Hawaii.

This dredges up another fudge:

Obama's Selma speech offers a very confused chronology of both the Kenya student program and the civil rights movement. Relating the story of how his parents met, Obama said: "There was something stirring across the country because of what happened in Selma, Alabama, because some folks are willing to march across a bridge. So they got together and Barack Obama Junior was born. So don't tell me I don't have a claim on Selma, Alabama."

After bloggers pointed out that the Selma bridge protest occurred four years after Obama's birth, a spokesman explained that the senator was referring to the civil rights movement in general, rather than any one event.

Well. And of course we just had the Hillary dust-up. For some reason these Dems don't feel heroic enough on their own merits.

UPDATE: I should have given the background on Obama and Meeks and Pfleger. Dating back to his 2004 run for Senate, Cathleen Falsani's religion column in the Sun Times:

"The biggest challenge, I think, is always maintaining your moral compass."

Friends and advisers, such as the Rev. Michael Pfleger, pastor of St. Sabina Roman Catholic Church in the Auburn- Gresham community on the South Side, who has known Obama for the better part of 20 years, help him keep that compass set, he says.

"I always have felt in him this consciousness that, at the end of the day, with all of us, you've got to face God," Pfleger says of Obama. "Faith is key to his life, no question about it. It is central to who he is, and not just in his work in the political field, but as a man, as a black man, as a husband, as a father.... I don't think he could easily divorce his faith from who he is."

Another person Obama says he seeks out for spiritual counsel is state Sen. James Meeks, who is also the pastor of Chicago's Salem Baptist Church. The day after Obama won the primary in March, he stopped by Salem for Wednesday-night Bible study.

Oh, and Father Pfleger invited the Rev. Wright over Friday night. Story. Video.

What does it say about Barack Obama when he sought out the support of the three most notorious politicized liberal preachers in Chicago?

One more note--CBS2 political reporter Mike Flannery brought up Bill Ayers last night on his show. Via Marathon Pundit. More on Ayers.

P.S. Dean Barnett, Weekly Standard:

In terms of personal accomplishments and service to country, Obama's cupboard is virtually bare next to McCain's. The same goes with political actions. You don't have to parse a John McCain speech to figure out where he stands. Heck, you don't even have to listen to McCain's speeches to know where he stands. From campaign finance to immigration to the Bush tax cuts to the Iraq War, McCain has been a man of action rather than words. Such men develop records and reputations. They become known quantities.

On the other end of the spectrum stands Barack Obama. Obama lacks a biography that tells you where he stands. He also has taken no defining or even noteworthy political action in his short time in public life.