Mike’s Blog: What’s Not To Like?

John McCain didn’t borrow money from a guy going to jail to build his house....Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) discussing  Barack Obama on  Sunday’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulous.”

Perhaps Graham was simply confused. After all, there are many fine points to remember in the story of the land deal involving Obama and fundraiser Antoin “Tony” Rezko, and off-the-cuff summaries can blur the truth.

Obama didn’t borrow even a dime from Rezko to buy — not build — a house three years ago.

But now that Rezko is, in fact, “going to jail” — he’s actually already serving prison time after his conviction last week on federal corruption charges –  and Obama is the presumptive Democratic nominee for president,  it’s time for a handy cheat sheet for pols and and pundits tempted to incorporate this tale into their campaign narratives.

So, for the gentleman from South Carolina and other befuddled parties, here are `08 things you need to knowabout how and why the Obamas and Rezkos purchased adjoining properties in the Kenwood neighborhood on the same day in June, 2005:

1.  The deal could have gone down without Rezko. 

While it’s true that the couple who sold the house to the Obamas and the adjoining vacant lot to Rezko’s wife required the deals to close on the same day, there was at least one other serious bidder on the lot.

2. The Obamas did not get a special discount on the  house. 

Yes, the original asking price was $1.95 million and the sale price was $1.65 million, but the sellers have confirmed that the sale price was the result of routine real estate negotiations and was the best offer they received on the house.

3. The sellers rejected two lower bids from the Obamas.

The Obamas first offered $1.3 million and then $1.5 million before agreeing with the sellers to the $1.65 million price.  

4.   The Rezkos did not pay an inflated price for the vacant lot.   

Obama has said his broker told him another interested party had already put in a bid on the lot at or close to the asking price of $625,000. No one has challenged this assertion.

5.  The Obamas did not get a special discount from the Rezkos when they later purchased a one-sixth strip of the vacant lot to enlarge their  yard. 

The price the Obamas paid, $104,500, was a neat one-sixth of the price of the lot and more than double the value Obama said his appraiser put on the strip. The remaining portion of the vacant lot reportedly sold earlier this year for $675,000.

6. The Obamas did not receive or borrow any money from the Rezkos to buy their house.  

They took out a $1.3 million mortgage and paid the balance with proceeds from Obama’s best-selling books.

7.  Obama hasn’t done any political or personal favors for Rezko  since this saga began.

 The lone example critics cite is that Obama allowed the son of a Rezko business associate to serve a one-month unpaid internship in his office in 2005.

8. The reason Obama is nevertheless correct in describing his actions here as “boneheaded” is that Rezko is and was a sleazeball.

Many of the warning signswere obvious in 2005 and Obama blew through them. 

That doesn’t reflect well on him,  I agree. But neither does it turn this otherwise ordinary real estate story into a scandal or excuse those who can’t or don’t want to keep the above facts straight.