So Obama is shocked that his friend has been convicted?
If he's this naive and trusting (and clueless) about his close associates, that they can fool him for years as to their true nature, why should we trust him to deal with foreign enemies?
And was he paying Rezko off to keep him quiet? Sixty-four grand is a lot of money, particularly when Michelle is complaining about having to pay off college loans. If he's just a lousy businessman, who doesn't know the value of money, is that a good resume for the chief executive of the country?
If it makes any difference, Obama:
1) refused to go along with efforts to remove Patrick Fitzgerald, the District Attorney who got this conviction. This includes publicly telling the Chicago Tribune editorial board that he'd ask Fitzgerald to stay.
2) Publicly refused to even consider pardoning Rezko should he become President.
I think Rezko would have rather not gotten the $64K.
BTW, the treasurer for the Republican National Committee is a guy named Bill Kjellander (pronounced "Shellander"). Bill K. is "Individual K" and mentioned repeatedly in the Rezko case. Local speculation is that Kjellander is next in line on the corruption case list.