Mr. Clean

Barack was bragging the other day about how he escaped Chicago politics without becoming tied into the dirty politics that dominates the town.

"You will recall that for my entire political career here, I was not the the endorsed candidate of any political organization here," the Democratic presidential hopeful said at the Westin Hotel downtown. "I didn't go around wielding a bunch of clout. My reputation in Springfield was as an independent. There is no doubt I had friends and continue to have friends who come out of the more traditional school of Chicago politics but that's not what launched my political career and that's not what I've ever depended on to get elected, and I would challenge any Chicago reporter to dispute that basic fact."

Nope. It's true. Barack built his own insidious clan - the Obamafia.

Obama friend Tony Rezko was convicted of corrupting state government, but Obama was never implicated and has returned contributions Rezko made to his Senate campaign. Obama did run as an independent Democrat but worked closely with state Senate President Emil Jones, an old-school organization Democrat. Obama runs for president with the full blessing of Mayor Daley.

And, of course, Barack benefited on the political clout of Jeremiah Wright, Michael Pfleger, Bill Ayers and Bernadette Dohrn.