Obama’s ‘friends’

In the editorial “Angelo’s ‘Friends'” (BDN, June 30), no mention was made of the sweetheart deal Sen. Barack Obama got when buying and financing his million-dollar Chicago mansion.

Barack Obama may not have struck a deal with Countrywide, the mortgage lender specifically mentioned in the editorial, but he sure did strike a deal – the likes of which most Americans will never be able to strike.

Obama paid a good $300,000 less for the mansion than its market value. And he got an interest rate on his mortgage well below the average interest rate for regular homebuyers in the Chicago area at the time.

Not only did Obama get a deal on the home price and the mortgage rate, but his campaign has received tens of thousands of dollars in contributions from employees of the mortgage lender who secured the Obama mansion financing.

This is exactly the same game the editorial criticizes other members of Congress for playing. The problem here does not just lie with the deals presidential candidate Obama struck on buying and financing his mansion. It lies with Obama claiming to be in touch with the American people. Most Americans don’t get deals like Obama got.

If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, chances are it is a duck. Obama is wheeling and dealing like any other typical politician.

Keith Kneeland Jr.

Old Town