Why Obama's Camp May Want McCain to Play Rezko

Thursday, August 21, 2008 | 3:07 PM

Does Playing the Rezko Card = Playing the Keating 5 Card to the Obama Camp?

The Obama team may welcome McCain's counterattack about Obama's land deal with Tony Rezko -- why? Because it will allow them the leeway to bring up controversies of greater leverage without being scorned, for instance, the "Keating Five" scandal.

Following the cardinal rule of "when attack, attack back," the Obama team may feel they have no choice but to reexamine the 1989 affair in which Senator McCain was implicated, making the attack seem less scurrilous and more a matter of necessary self-defense. This will certainly play into the hands of the press and will reverberate, for better or worse.

Right or wrong and whether the campaign chooses to escalate this line of argument in light of McCain's pushback, it has become clear that the back and forth between Obama and McCain is now serious... how far will this go? How far does Obama want to push the envelope just prior to the DNC?