Opinion: Obama’s second challenge
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If Barack Obama’s first challenge as the Democratic nominee is to get Hillary Clinton to accept it, his second might be dealing with the fallout from a corruption conviction against developer Antoin ‘Tony’ Rezko. As the Chicago Tribune reports:
Rezko befriended many Illinois politicians and was a major fundraiser for some, most prominently [Illinois Gov. Rod] Blagojevich and Obama. The criminal charges against Rezko had nothing to do with his connection to Obama. But that link still proved a nagging headache for Obama during his Democratic presidential run, especially in the wake of Tribune revelations that tied Rezko to a 2005 real estate deal involving Obama’s South Side home.
Read more about their connection here. And in case you’re wondering, The Times editorial board hasn’t commented on the Rezko-Obama connection thus far, and it isn’t clear that Rezko would pass the board’s test for when it’s acceptable to judge a candidate by his associates.