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# A close look at Obama does little to clear view
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/a-close-look-at-obama-does-little-to-clear-view/
- Published: 2007-03-13T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-24T00:14:10.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Opinion, Santa Monica, #archive-import

THE 2004 DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL Convention ushered in a political celebrity after Illinois State Senator Barack Obama gave the keynote address.America found a new star and Obama won a seat to the U.S. Senate.

Obama proved a busy senator as he sponsored 152 bills in the next two years, including one to extend the college Pell Grant loan program. He also backed a bill to increase aid to the Democratic Republic of Congo. Obama has worked on immigration reform and has served on four senate committees, including foreign relations and veteran’s affairs.

Last month Obama announced his candidacy for president and the media has been in a feeding frenzy since. The public is enamored with Obama’s speaking prowess and his charismatic personality. His campaign is attracting Hollywood stars and big bucks. But how much do we know about Obama’

His mixed parentage is common knowledge — white mother, Kenyan father. Obama obtained his law degree from Harvard Law School, taught law at the University of Chicago Law School and served as a state senator in Illinois from 1996 to 2000 and again in 2002.

A short but sterling stint for a new politician. But there’s more. In order to consider Barack Obama for president, all sides must be considered and weighed. We must know the good and the bad about any candidate.

First comes the issue of Obama’s blind trust. After taking senate office in 2005, Obama invested $50,000 in individual stocks at his broker’s advice. One company was AVI Biopharma, which was developing a drug to treat the Avian flu. Two weeks after he bought the stock, Obama pushed for more federal funding to fight the disease. Coincidence or blind ambition’

Another company was Skyterra, shares of which are owned by some of Obama’s financial backers. One of them is Jared Abbruzzese, a New York businessman who is now at the center of a federal inquiry into public corruption.Abbruzzese, who normally backs Republican causes, must have converted to the Democratic Party. He donated $10,000 to Obama’s Political Action Committee. Change of political philosophy or something else’

Obama is not the only senator who has been embarrassed with blind investment trusts. Tennessee Senator Trent Lott, a former doctor, had a blind trust that gave him bad publicity. One of the stocks in it was a family-run business and questions of insider trading were raised at the time. The matter was smoothed over and soon forgotten.

A second question over Obama comes through his prior real estate transactions. Obama paid $1.65 million for a mansion in Chicago. Not bad for a state senator. Antoin Rezko, a now-indicted political fund raiser, bought an adjoining undeveloped lot and both properties closed on the same day. Later in 2005, Obama wanted to enlarge his yard so he paid Rezko $104,500 for a strip of his land. This price was above the appraised value.

Eventually, Rezko was indicted for his role in an alleged pay-to-play scheme designed to fatten Illinois Governor Blagojevich’s political fund and for bilking a creditor. Rezko and Obama have been friends since 1990.

When I heard about this, a red light came up. I know that in the world of illicit drug trade, a favorite method of laundering dirty money is real estate deals. Such transactions have never been successfully connected to the drug trade according to the FBI and the DEA. However, Rezko has been known to skirt the law and Obama did pay above the appraised value for Rezko’s land. Paying above appraised value for real estate is fairly rare.

Bad business practice or something else’ No one is accusing either man of anything illegal, but questions do pop to mind.

Finally, I am concerned about the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago which Obama attends. More specifically, I question the theological philosophy of the pastor of this 10,000-member mega-church, Dr. Jeremiah Wright.

Wright’s politics are a bit questionable. He openly admits to having taken a trip with Louis Farrakhan to visit Moammar Gadhafi in 1984\. Why is a confessed Christian traveling and fellowshipping with two Muslims’ Farrakhan makes no secret of his agenda of a black separatist nation within the borders of America. Black Muslims in America generally support Farrakhan’s separatist agenda.

So why is Wright hanging out with these two Muslims?

Does this remind you of a combination of Christianity and Black Muslim philosophy’ It should. The Civil Rights Law of 1964 did not encourage black separatism nor did it encourage black supremacy.

The law was to make all men and women equal in the eyes of the law and in society’s view.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on March 13, 2007.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/031307.pdf?ref=smdp.com)