Kowabunga

Barack Obama's financial wheelings and dealings with some of his biggest donors is getting some coverage. From Drudge Report:

The paper claims, according to newsroom sources: One of the companies was a biotech concern that was starting to develop a drug to treat avian flu. In March 2005, two weeks after buying about $5,000 of its shares, Obama took the lead in a legislative push for more federal spending to battle the disease.

This is pretty typical. Buy stock in a company and use political influence to push through an agenda that will benefit the company and your stock holdings in said company. I wonder what the name of the company is.

The paper's Mike McIntire and Chris Drew get front placement [side by side with Libby Coverage] for details of Obama's most recent financial disclosure:

It shows that he bought more than $50,000 in stock in a satellite communications business whose principal backers include four friends and donors who had raised more than $150,000 for his political committees.

Based on the little information, I am not as concerned about this one, but would like to know what the company is and who these donors are. It is not as if they gave him the stock, or contributed to his campaign as a result of his investment. However, it is something that should be watched.

The piece also mentions that a spokesman for Obama claims the Senator did not know he had invested in either company. That's a load of bull and not the kind you find on Wall Street. Okay, maybe you can find it there. Regardless, how can he invest in two companies without realizing he has invested in them. Doesn't he monitor his investments?

Still, there is not enough information available to accuse him of any wrongdoing. A little stupidity maybe, but not wrongdoing.

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Obama Wall Street Investents Drudge