Critics claim Obama hasn't felt it much yet. But the Chicago Sun-Times' Lynn Sweet explains how the honeymoon might be coming to an end -- at least in Chicago:

It was just Obama's luck that by coincidence on this particular day he had a contingent of Chicago journalists to deal with who are not, well, shy because we have covered Obama for years. I was there, as well as Sun-Times political columnist Carol Marin and CBS2 political reporter Mike Flannery.

Rezko's federal corruption trial started Monday, and there are still basic questions Obama and his campaign have not answered about their relationship. Rezko was an Obama fund-raiser who figures in the deal that let the Obamas buy their Kenwood home.

Let's leave aside a running disagreement over whether Obama will sit down with the Chicago investigative reporters who are most familiar with the details of the Rezko story. Monday was a new day.

At this press conference, Obama was asked specifically a few of the more simple questions about his relationship with Rezko, including how many fund-raisers he hosted (one has been reported), who attended these fund-raisers and would he disclose the closing documents for his home.

At first he made it seem it had all been asked and answered. But I was at the one press conference he referred to -- in Waukegan in November 2006 before the election, just after the initial wave of stories came out on the house deal. (I reposted the Waukegan transcript on my blog.)

"You may still have questions, which I am happy to answer," Obama said to Marin, adding it is not fair to "suggest somehow" he has been trying to hide something.

Soon after he said, "If there is a specific question that you have, Carol, I'll be happy to respond to it."

Obama added as the press conference progressed, "If there are specific requests in terms of information that you feel that you don't yet have, we will be happy to talk about that."

And then there was the fourth happy. "If there is a specific question that you have, I am happy to respond to it."

For all the happy talk, nothing was forthcoming on Monday.

The trial ensures that the Rezko matter isn't going away for Obama. And Chicago reporters are right to feel slighted by their hometown guy. With the NAFTA mess also tripping him up, Obama is just trying to get through today, then perhaps he'll turn his attention to Rezko and the rest.

UPDATE: The Post's Dana Milbank noticed the turn as well:

Reporters from the Associated Press and Reuters went after him for his false denial that a campaign aide had held a secret meeting with Canadian officials over Obama's trade policy. A trio of Chicago reporters pummeled him with questions about the corruption trial this week of a friend and supporter. The New York Post piled on with a question about him losing the Jewish vote.

Obama responded with the classic phrases of a politician in trouble. "That was the information that I had at the time... Those charges are completely unrelated to me... I have said that that was a mistake.... The fact pattern remains unchanged."

When those failed, Obama tried another approach. "We're running late," the candidate said, and then he disappeared behind a curtain.