Dean's World

Pajamas Media thinks so. I'm not so sure, but I am pretty sure that his status as the flawless Golden Child is going to come under heavy fire, if not from Democratic sources then certainly from Republican sources.

Well, Democratic stalwarts like Kevin Drum and Paul Krugman also seem to think so.

Are Democrats really about to nominate someone they haven't thoroughly vetted again?

*Update*: Hmm, apparently Mrs. Obama only likes America when it votes for her husband. Interesting.

*Update 2*: Victor David Hanson asks, "Were Democrats fleeing the self-absorption of the Billary power couple of two Yale-educated lawyers — only to embrace the self-absorption of a power-couple of two Harvard-educated lawyers? Or was it a Yale versus Harvard Law School intramural thing all along?"

Obama is just another politician, people, and it's time more people stepped up and said so.

via bloomberg, looks like the rezko thing is as dead as HD-DVD.

The couple who sold Barack Obama his Chicago home said the Illinois senator's $1.65 million bid ``was the best offer'' and they didn't cut their asking price because a campaign donor bought their adjacent land, according to e-mails between Obama's presidential campaign and the seller. [...] The sellers hadn't previously made their side of the story public out of concern for their privacy, according to Bill Burton, a spokesman for Obama's campaign. They approached Obama's Senate office 15 months ago and agreed to break their silence now through the campaign out of concern that the story was being distorted in the media, Burton said.

Toured Property

Burton said Obama, 46, toured the property with Rezko for 15 to 30 minutes at some point before the purchase. Burton said Obama wanted Rezko's opinion of the property because Rezko was a real-estate developer in the area. Burton said he didn't know when the pre-sale tour occurred.

Burton said a campaign adviser discussed the sale with Wondisford by phone and followed up with an e-mail to Wondisford repeating his points. Wondisford responded: ``I confirm that the three points below are accurate,'' according to the e-mail, provided to Bloomberg News and authenticated through records shown by the adviser.

The e-mail says that the sellers ``did not offer or give the Obamas a `discount' on the house price on the basis of or in relation to the price offered and accepted on the lot.'' It also says that ``in the course of the negotiation over the sales price,'' Obama and his wife, Michelle, ``made several offers until the one accepted at $1.65 million, and that this was the best offer you received on the house.''

Wondisford has declined to talk directly about the matter.

Three Bids

The Obamas submitted three bids: $1.3 million on Jan. 15, 2005; $1.5 million on Jan. 21; and $1.65 million on Jan. 23, according to a copy of the sale contract shown to Bloomberg News. Obama received more than $1.2 million in book royalties and a book advance in 2005, the year he was sworn in to the U.S. Senate, his financial disclosure statement shows.

However, Obama's middle name is still Hussein, so it's not like McCain's campaign will be wanting for attack material come October.

Cindy McCain softly upbraids Michelle Obama.

I propose that this weighty matter can only be settled by a jell-o wrestling match.

now they're calling Obama a commie jew bastard. Or more specifically, a "half black/half Jewish, red diaper baby"

and yet, all of my mixed race, black/white classmates throughout my youth, some of whom I am still in contact with, were the product of very culturally specific unions. They were always the offspring of a white mother, (in my circles, she was usually Jewish, but elsewhere not necessarily) and usually a highly educated black father. And how had these two come together at a time when it was neither natural nor easy for such relationships to flourish? Always through politics. No, not the young Republicans. Usually the Communist Youth League. Or maybe a different arm of the CPUSA. But, for a white woman to marry a black man in 1958, or 60, there was almost inevitably a connection to explicit Communist politics. (During the Clinton Administration we were all introduced to then U. of Pennsylvania Professor Lani Guinier -- also a half black/half Jewish, red diaper baby.)

Freeperland? nutpicking from the fevered swamps of RedState? Nope. The Corner at National Review Online, flagship publication of conservatism in America.

glad to see the level of political discourse rise to a higher plane of muck its better than the lower plane of muck, anyway.

They've even got the pseudo-McCarthyism angle ready:

Time for some investigative journalism about the Obama family's background, now that his chances of being president have increased so much.

Oh, but Michelle Obama said something vacuous, so it's all fair game.

A pretty good response. A bit of a dodge, really, but she was probably just careless with her words in the first place.

I can see her being an excellent First Lady. I don't see myself voting for her husband, but I have little doubt that the country won't implode if he's elected.