Nice deal if you can get it, which by the way you probably can’t

Politico carried an interesting story over the weekend you may not have seen. Entitled "No mortgage pinch for Obama and team," the piece by Kenneth P. Vogel detailed the special mortgage deals enjoyed by Obama and his "progressive" team. Nothing illegal, Vogel points out, but it illustrates how the Obama political class lives above the regular folks it reaches down to help.

Consider ...

• Barack and Michelle Obama on their $1.65 million, 6,500-square-foot Georgian Revival home received in 2005 a discount on their mortgage from Northern Trust. The reason: Northern Trust saw it as a chance to build a relationship with a successful couple. Nice deal if you can get it, which by the way you probably can't.

• Secretary of State Hillary Clinton snagged her Dutch Colonial Revival house in suburban New York in 1999 when no one was willing to back their mortgage by taking a $1.35 million loan from long-time ally Terry McAuliffe. Later, McAuliffe was paid off when he backed the Clintons on a refinance from PNC Mortgage. The Clintons received several fee waivers and reductions in writing the 7.5% 30-year interest-only loan. Nice deal if you can get it, which by the way you probably can't.

• Obama diplomat Richard Holbrooke benefitted when Countrywide Financial took his 2003 home loan and designated it eligible for the "VIP" program. That allowed Holbrooke to waive at least $15,000 in point-related fees when he bought a second home (oh, my gawd, a second home for an Obama team member?!) for $1.2 million in Telluride, Colo. Countrywide also granted Holbrooke's son and daughter-in-law discounts on their home in Brooklyn. Nice deal if you can get it, which by the way you probably can't.

• Larry Summers, director of the National Economic Council, had the best mortgage, which is no mortgage. He lived rent free in a 12-room mansion as Harvard's president from 2001 to 2006. Then, when he resigned under pressure, his severance package called for Harvard giving Summers a $1 million home loan in which he doesn't have to make payments until 2010. Nice deal if you can get it, which by the way you probably can't.

• Obama appointees Cecilia Rouse, Elena Kagan and Steven Chu enjoy reduced or subsidized mortgages through their former schools (Princeton, Harvard and U.C. Berkeley). Nice deal if you can get it, which by the way you probably can't.