Obama’s VP Selection Team Member Steps Aside Amid Controversy

[jtkratzer]

The adviser Barack Obama tapped to lead his search for a running mate has stepped down amid criticism from Republicans about the Washington insider’s lucrative past with financial corporations and lenders.

Jim Johnson, a former Fannie Mae CEO who also helped vet running mates for Walter Mondale in 1984 and John Kerry in 2004, was under fire following reports that he received favorable loan terms from a mortgage lender Obama has sharply criticized on the campaign trail.

The Obama campaign announced Johnson was stepping down Wednesday, after three straight days of criticism.

“Jim did not want to distract in any way from the very important task of gathering information about my vice presidential nominee, so he has made a decision to step aside that I accept,” Obama said in a statement.

“We have a very good selection process underway, and I am confident that it will produce a number of highly qualified candidates for me to choose from in the weeks ahead. I remain grateful to Jim for his service and his efforts in this process,” Obama said.

Republicans immediately said the move from the Obama camp rang hollow.

“Jim Johnson’s resignation raises serious questions about Barack Obama’s judgment,” John McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds said in a statement, adding “the American people have reason to question the judgment of a candidate who has shown he will only make the right call when under pressure from the news media. America can’t afford a president who flip-flops on key questions in the course of 24 hours.”

The Wall Street Journal reported over the weekend that Johnson received favorable loan terms from lender Countrywide Financial Corp., a firm Obama has criticized for contributing to the home mortgage crisis. That report opened the door for several others, including by The Washington Post and The New York Times, which revisited Johnson’s history with Fannie Mae before the company drew the scrutiny of regulators and his role on several boards granting hefty payouts to CEOs.

The announcement from Obama Wednesday came after Democrats lined up to defend Johnson.

Kerry, speaking on a conference call Wednesday, praised Johnson for the work he did for him four years ago, and said the criticism is just “one of those … Washington grab stories.”

“Jim Johnson is a very experienced, very discreet, very capable individual who is performing a voluntary function without pay … he’s not seeking a job,” Kerry said.

“Jim Johnson is a capable guy. He has been vetting VPs for a while” Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean told MSNBC Wednesday. He said Johnson is just doing a volunteer job and “this is nothing to do with special interests and influence in the campaign, unlike John McCain.”

After McCain called the Johnson connection Monday a “contradiction” for Obama, the presumptive Democratic nominee told reporters he can’t be expected to track down the mortgage history of his search committee members. The committee also includes former first daughter Caroline Kennedy and Eric Holder, former deputy attorney general.

“I would have to hire the vetter to vet the vetters,” Obama said in St. Louis, Mo., Tuesday, adding that Johnson was not technically working for him.

Obama strategist David Axelrod repeated that argument in an interview Wednesday morning.

“We honestly didn’t ask him for his mortgage statements of his financials and I don’t think anyone would expect us to,” he told MSNBC. “We can’t vet all the vetters.”

But he stressed that Johnson is playing a part in “perhaps the most important” decision of the campaign.

McCain’s campaign went after Obama Tuesday for being “in a state of denial” about Johnson’s role in the campaign and his past taking “sweetheart deals” from Countrywide.

FOX News’ Bonney Kapp contributed to this report.

Source



Not much you can do but step aside when something like this happens. Just another case of the politicians doing what they want to impose their will and views up the subjects of the nation without living by the same standard.

Doesn't look good for your campaign when part of your campaign is to go after and publicly name people like the guy responsible for helping you pick a VP.

I love how John Kerry immediately starts in with the finger pointing rather than focusing on the issue at hand. He is such an a$$ clown.

[AZXD]

“Jim Johnson’s resignation raises serious questions about Barack Obama’s judgment,” John McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds said in a statement, adding “the American people have reason to question the judgment of a candidate who has shown he will only make the right call when under pressure from the news media. America can’t afford a president who flip-flops on key questions in the course of 24 hours.”

It makes me glad that McCain has someone like Bounds working for him

I'm also a little more than happy that ... Each week the Obama campaign finds a way to steal the spotlight from any gaffe's that McCain might make.

Keep doing what you're doing Obama
You'll soon end your own candidacy!!!

[aeneas26]

Originally Posted by AZXD

It makes me glad that McCain has someone like Bounds working for him

I'm also a little more than happy that ... Each week the Obama campaign finds a way to steal the spotlight from any gaffe's that McCain might make.

Keep doing what you're doing Obama
You'll soon end your own candidacy!!!

Without Oprah and a fawning media, I'm not sure it would have gotten this far.

[jtkratzer]

Originally Posted by aeneas26

Without Oprah and a fawning media, I'm not sure it would have gotten this far.

It will be his rise and fall.

[AZXD]

Originally Posted by jtkratzer

It will be his rise and fall.

As in, fall off a cliff .... I can dream, can't I