Obama's Pals

Obama's friendships with hard-core leftists is the clearest indication we have of his extreme views, views which are not getting aired in the campaign. One example: Obama and Edward Said.

As for his corrupt pal, Tony Rezko the Syrian immigrant, Hot Air's Ed Morrissey points to a June 2007 article that shows that Obama failed to come clean on what Rezko gave him for his campaigns:

During his 12 years in politics, Sen. Barack Obama has received nearly three times more campaign cash from indicted businessman Tony Rezko and his associates than he has publicly acknowledged, the Chicago Sun-Times has found.

Then there is this:

One of Rezko’s associates turns out to be Ali D. Ata, who worked in Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich’s administration. Ata now faces fraud charges for writing a letter on state letterhead on behalf of Rezko that lied well enough to get millions of dollars in loans. Rezko brought Ata into Obama’s camp as a contributor.

What is interesting about this "lies for loans" charge is that it is exactly the same charge used against Jack Abramoff. Even guilt-by-association was enough to taint many Abramoff associates in Republican circles. Here we have people up on charges of influence-peddling and related charges who gave to Obama's campaign. And Obama didn't come clean on it until forced to by the press? When one considers the Obama image versus this reality, there is quite a disconnect.