Bad - Really Bad - Move

On the part of the Obama campaign. They chose to attack John McCain for not being able to answer how "houses" McCain owns. Considering the fact that Obama obtained his mansion with the help of convicted felon Tony Rezko, this was a stupid - potentially politically lethally stupid - move on the campaign's part. They have opened the door to a counterpunch over Obama's ties to Rezko.

“Does a guy who… bought his own million-dollar mansion with the help of a convicted felon really want to get into a debate about houses?”

–Spokesman Rogers:

Says Obama lives in “a frickin’ mansion” that was “bought in a shady deal with a convicted felon.” Says they will hit harder on Tony Rezko.

People who live in glass mansions might want to heed that old proverb. The full quote from the McCain camp is actually a lot more pointed than the excerpt quoted above:

McCain spokesman Brian Rogers said in response: "Does a guy who made more than $4 million last year, just got back from vacation on a private beach in Hawaii and bought his own million-dollar mansion with the help of a convicted felon really want to get into a debate about houses? Does a guy who worries about the price of arugula and thinks regular people 'cling' to guns and religion in the face of economic hardship really want to have a debate about who’s in touch with regular Americans?

They may be grabbing media attention with their claims, but the counterattack by McCain is devastating. Up until now they have pretty much kept off of Rezko, even if Hillary did not. But now the forum is a national one, not a Democratic party internecine one. This will backfire on Obama.

By the way, whatever happened to a different kind of politics and promises of change from Obama? Looks like old-style political hardball to me. No hope of change there.

UPDATE: Via Glenn Reynolds, the counterpunch. (Glenn also points out that this was a bad move on Obama's campaign, this ad shows why.)