You can now have a low mileage Presidential candidate for a mere $300 a month. Senator Obama received a $1.32 million super jumbo loan below the average rate for similar loans at that time. He paid no fees and he bought no points up front.
The overt buying and selling of US politicians has to stop. Senator Obama is a prominent sponsor of a housing bailout that will surely benefit Northern Trust of Illinois. In fact, I contend that they got themselves a massive bargain when they over paid for a freshmen Senator with no influence, but it appears that their investment has matured nicely.
I have to wonder why Senator Obama didn't disclose this favorable treatment sooner, especially in light of the resignation of the head of Obama's vice presidential search committee after it was disclosed that he had received favorable treatment from Countrywide. Associate law professor Adam J. Levitin, a credit specialist at the Georgetown University Law Center said, "Do they do business like that for people who are not congressmen? If they don't, that's a problem". I think we know the answer to that question already. So here we are a Presidential candidate who has already been bought and sold. While he peddles a line of rhetoric that says he's the candidate of change, all I see here is the same old stuff, which makes Senator Obama far worse, in my opinion, than those who he claims to be fighting.
Northern Trust claims that unlike Countrywide, they had no formal program for taking care of VIPs. Sure that’s great, but it never hurts to have a Senator on the payroll, especially at the bargain basement price of $300 a month. Northern Trust Vice President John O'Connell even went so far as to say, "A person's occupation and salary are two factors; I would expect those are two things we would take into consideration". So yea, cutting a deal with a Senator is advantageous, because some day you might need some help getting some legislation passed.
Like Senator Dodd's loan, this is beginning to reek of quid pro quo.
Furthermore, it appears that the Senator Obama paid $300,000 less than the $1.95 million asking price, in 2005. In 2005, the housing market was still white hot. Unlike today, when the market is lousy, buyers still have a hard time getting a low ball bid accepted. Keep in mind; a low ball bid is defined by real estate professionals as being more than 10% below the seller’s asking price. Here we have Senator Obama getting a seller in a hot market to give him a 15% discount to go with his sweetheart loan. Makes you think doesn't it?
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