Looks Like Obama Is Really Really Serious About Running

I can always tell when politicians start to get really really serious about their campaigns. They start paying off old fines.

According to Reuters, all of a sudden Obama has decided to pay nearly $400 in old parking tickets he got when he was a law student at Harvard. There was $375 he paid for 17 tickets in a two year period ending in 1990. Seventeen years ago?!! And he just now miraculously discovered them?

So, do you think his Arrogantness parked in a Handicapped spot or just stayed too long at the dance? He even paid a $45 late fee for parking tickets that were unpaid.

He must be going some old shoeboxes while packing for his move into the White House. Do you think?

But then there's that other matter of thousands and thousands of dollars of shares of stock in companies that he helped push legislation through. Naturally, he had no idea that his blind trust had bought any of those shares. It's all perfectly legit, he says.

If the trust is all that blind, how come a measley little reporter was able to uncover the pretty big Ooops?

It doesn't matter if it's $400 or $50,000. Neither of the above pass the smell test!

Obama pays 17-year-old parking tickets
Thu Mar 8, 2007 12:58pm ET

BOSTON (Reuters) - As he prepared to announce his campaign for the White House, Democratic Sen. Barack Obama took care of some unfinished business at Harvard University -- paying about $400 in parking fines dating back to his days as a law student.

Two weeks before the Illinois senator officially entered the presidential race on February 10, he paid parking fines he received while attending Harvard Law School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, a Cambridge city official said on Thursday.

"I think it's great, we always like to collect," said Susan Clippinger, director of Cambridge's Traffic, Parking and Transportation Department.

Obama paid Cambridge $375 on January 26 for 17 parking tickets received between 1988 and 1990, she said. He paid neighboring Somerville another $45 for late fees on two parking tickets from the early 1990s, a Somerville official added.

Obama also paid a $73 auto excise tax he owed Somerville, said city spokesman Tom Champion.

The Boston Globe reported in January that he owed Somerville the money.

A spokesman for Obama was not immediately available to comment but the Globe quoted Jen Psaki of the Obama campaign as saying the senator had paid for the tickets out of a personal account.

© Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved.

(I searched "Obama parking tickets" on the Drudge site -- Jane)

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