Reflections From a Murky Pond

The Obama Campaign recently published out an attack ad vs. Sen. John McCain. In the attack ad they imply that any man who doesn’t know how many homes he owns is far too rich to be President of the US.

This was a well crafted attack vs. McCain. It resonated well with many middle and lower class Americans. But by bringing up home ownership Obama has opened the door for his own real estate problem with Tony Rezko. As I predicted Team McCain was quick to jump on this.

In November 2006, Sen. Obama admitted to Chicago newspaper reporters that buying the Hyde Park townhouse adjacent to the vacant lot purchased by Tony Rezko’s wife, Rita, was a “boneheaded” move. For the most part the media accepted that and everyone moved on.

Unfortunately, by bringing up home ownership in an attack ad Obama has once again made his own home ownership - with its attendant appearance of impropriety and possible corruption - newsworthy again.

Since Obama has previously admitted his poor judgment in dealing with Resko there’s little defense he can offer up this time around. The absolutely worst thing he could do would be to claim that this was old news and an an old attack. That would be effectively parroting Hillary Clinton which would be an even bigger blow to his campaign.

Obama’s campaign staff really should have known better than to do this. Some attacks are not worth cost and the obvious counter and riposte.

The Obama Campaign just came out with an attack ad vs. Sen. John McCain. In the attack ad they imply that any man who doesn’t know how many homes he owns is far too rich to be President of the US. OK, there’s one significant flaw in that logic - McCain himself isn’t that wealthy.

Below are shown Sen. McCain’s 2006 & 2007 annual income. They are the figures for his total income, not just his taxable income.

• John McCain’s 2006 Total Income was $358,414
• John McCain’s 2006 Total Income was $405,409

Most of the real wealth in the McCain household belongs to his wife Cindy Lou Hensley McCain, Chairperson of Hensley & Co. one of the largest Anheuser-Busch beer distributors in the United States. Her personal wealth is estimated at approximately $100 million.

Essentially McCain is a Kept Man. That does explain his admitted lack of knowledge on economic matters

Perhaps Obama should stop trying to use wealth as an insult and focus more on the fact that McCain’s lifestyle is largely provided by his wife, who keeps the bulk of her finances separate from her husband. The fact that Sen. McCain doesn’t see - much less control - the purse strings in his family both explains his lack of knowledge about the properties he and his wife own and would be a more interesting attack ad.

BTW: Just what does John McCain have? I mean look at him. How did he manage to get the gig of Kept Man anyhow? LOL

Here’s a very interesting 2004 CNN interview with Barack Obama. Obama was very open and candid about what he feels a political candidate should know and do before considering running for office on a national ticket.

I’m guessing that the Obama Campaign is not going to be happy that this video is now getting digital air time via YouTube. When your opposition - both John McCain and Hillary Clinton - have been repeating the accusation that Obama is “Not Ready To Lead,” it’s got to be painful for his campaign staff that Obama himself said he couldn’t be ready in 2008 and wouldn’t be comfortable trying to become ready.

One Word: Ouch!