Real People For Real Change?

Barack Obama is getting massive press hype without Americans knowing much of anything about him. He started his public career with an unusual move--- writing a book where he talks about using cocaine. It's unconventional, but damned if it doesn't look like it just might work.

No one's sure what stuff he ISN'T telling us though. If you have any tips, as always please email us.





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Quotes

"I think very highly of Hillary. The more I get to know her, the more I admire her. I think she's one of the most disciplined people I know. She's one of the toughest. She's got an extraordinary intelligence, and she's somebody who's in this stuff for the right reasons. She's passionate about moving the country forward on issues like health care and children." -- Barack Obama



"It was a mistake to have been engaged with him [Antoin Rezko] at all in this or any other personal business dealing that would allow him, or anyone else, to believe that he had done me a favor" -- Barack Obama



"There's no doubt that this was a mistake on my part. 'Boneheaded' would be accurate. There's no doubt I should have seen some red flags in terms of me purchasing a piece of property from him." - Barack Obama





Cocaine

Long before he ever ran for political office, Obama wrote a book about, well, himself, and his amazing his journey from messed up kid to, um, himself. It was quite an epic, considering he was 34 at the time.



In that book, called "Dreams From My Pusher", oops I mean "Dreams From My Father", he writes that he used marijuana and cocaine ("maybe a little blow".) Oddly enough, he writes that he didn't try heroin because -- wait for it -- he didn't like the pusher who was selling it. (Weren't there any other reasons?) In a later interview, he added "Teenage boys are frequently confused."







Favors For (and From) A Shady Chicago Businessman

Barack Obama has been friends with Antoin ("Tony") Rezko since at least 1990. Rezko offered him a job in the early 1990s (declined), and has raised at least $60,000 for Obama's campaigns. In return, Barack arranged an internship in 2005 for John Aramanda, the son of a Rezko business associate (Joseph Aramanda, who himself gave Barack $11,500.)



There's more. In June, 2005, Obama bought a house in Chicago for $1.65 million. The same day, Rezko bought the vacant lot next door for $625,00. Seven months later, Rezko sold Barack a slice (1/6th) of his lot so the Obamas could have a bigger yard. There's no evidence that Rezko bought the vacant land for any other reason than to do Obama a favor.



Here's the real problem: among other problems, Rezko is under indictment in a federal government corruption case for demanding kickbacks from companies wanting to do business with Illinois Governor Blagojevich, another politician that Rezko has befriended and donated to. (Rezko is also under indictment for shaking down a Hollywood producer for $1.5 million in campaign contributions for Blagojevich. The guy takes care of his friends.) In fact, Joseph Aramanda is an unindicted co-conspirator in one of the kickback cases.



Obama has admitted that the land deal was a mistake, and donated $11,500 given to him directly by Rezko to charity.





Educated in a Madrassa?

Fox News ran a story claiming that Obama had been educated in a madrassa school in Indonesia. If you're not familiar with that term, it's a type of fundamentalist Muslim school, often funded by the extremist Wahabi sect of Islam (with Saudi money) and often very anti-American.



There was only one problem with the story: it was completely false. Yes, Obama had gone to school in Indonesia as a kid; two schools in fact. One was Catholic, the other was a public school, with teachers and kids of various faiths.



The only scandal here is that Fox News ran the story with no facts or reporting backing it up. They simply repeated a story from a highly partisan website, with no effort to check out the school. It's there, still open, and easily visited. Reporters who did so found out that the story was false in minutes.







Sources

"Barack Obama, asked about drug history, admits he inhaled", by Katherine Seelye, International Herald Tribune, October 25, 2006

"Dreams From My Father", by Barack Obama, 1995



"Internship also links Obama, Rezko", Chicago Sun-Times, December 24, 2006, by Frank Main



"Obama Says He Regrets Land Deal With Fundraiser", by Peter Slevin, Washington Post, December 16, 2006



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Copyright 2007 Real People For Real ChangeReal People For Real Change?
Hillary will win tomorrow. Hype will not last long.
I definitely suggest that people read up on some of these stories. FactCheck.org is a great resource and has been for years (like pre-Iraq... if only more people had been paying attention). Anyway, to get to the point...



There's no way I can justify what Obama did; however, if his background was community organizing in poor neighborhoods, then his involvement with Rezko can easily be explained. Rezko was in the business of developing low income housing in an area that was sure to need it. What he did with the properties after the fact is what has caused so much trouble.



Either way, based on reports and investigations by several newspapers, Rezko was represented by Obama's firm. Not by Obama directly.



So, their lives definitely converged on some levels. Hopefully that was as far as it went. I don't believe that the two can be put in the same category though. Not at all.



As for questions on how he intends to fund his health proposal (in one of the other answers); his plan is just about identical to what Clinton has proposed namely letting the tax cuts fall back to their previous levels.



Lastly, change is most likely to come from a candidate that has the least amount of ties to lobbyist and big industry. If Clinton is backed by the healthcare and pharma industry, how can she be trusted to follow through on the changes she has proposed?Real People For Real Change?
you should be reported..this is just a political ad
Real change to what?!



Islamic clothes?!Real People For Real Change?
Most definately Ron Paul... nobody else deserves my vote.



Ron paul wants ot help AMERICA and thats what i want. im tired of the government getting in my business taking my hard earned money. starting ridiculous wars, borrowing money putting us in debt and making US pay for it while we have ppl here suffering/being broke poor homeless..



yeah im ready for a change and ron paul wants to give that to us, and has never changed his stance in 20 years in congress. so you know hes not just lying like the other candidates to get votes.
I don't care about the drugs, but Obama should have known better about Rezko...a Syrian Arab. And the house 300 T under value and the land with a fence conveniently installed for him...come on please. He was old enough to know better. But even at that, Obama attacks others too much and fails to explain HOW he will pay for the change he is talking about. And was he really a great uniter in Chicago, or was it the strong arm influence of his Arab mafia benefactor? His attitude and body language do not really say work with me....it is more like you will do what I say. And I really don't think he has a clue about the middle East....he says the same thing during each debate. Obama cannot explain HOW he is going to pay for anything...he has no plans. And his explanation about health care is horrible. I don't trust him at all. I've watched all the debates. He has not done well at all. I don't want him to represent the US abroad. We already have the reputation for arrogance. I don't think we need another President to carry that message on into the future.