Subscribe by RSSObama’s VP search committee loses a member amid criticism
Jim Johnson, a manager of Democrat Barack Obama’s vice presidential search team, is resigning amid criticism over his personal loan deals. Obama’s campaign declined to say if Johnson would be replaced.
Video report from ABC News:
Report from Yahoo News:
WASHINGTON - A former CEO leading Barack Obama’s search for a vice presidential candidate resigned abruptly Wednesday after questions about his home mortgage deals became a distraction for a candidate who argues he’s not influenced by special interests.
Jim Johnson’s resignation came a day after Obama defended Johnson and dismissed the Republican criticism of him.
“I am not vetting my V.P. search committee for their mortgages,” Obama said Tuesday.
He accepted Johnson’s resignation on Wednesday, leaving the search at least temporarily in the hands of two other prominent Democratic attorneys who also had been scouting candidates — former Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder and Caroline Kennedy.
“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. “We have a very good selection process under way, and I am confident that it will produce a number of highly qualified candidates for me to choose from in the weeks ahead.”
Johnson, the former chairman of mortgage lender Fannie Mae, came under fire from GOP candidate John McCain and the Republican Party after The Wall Street Journal reported last Saturday that Johnson got mortgages with help from the CEO of Countrywide Financial Corp.
McCain had accused Obama of hypocrisy for speaking out against Countrywide’s role in the subprime mortgage crisis.
A political expedient move that any politician would have made.
(No Ratings Yet)
Loading ...Visit the You Decide 2008 Store »
Loading ...
i also hear obama is making his wife resign from the public eye due to her obvious lack of patriotism.
stop cap and trade
vote glen beck
How many poor decisions will Obama make? I’m starting to lose count of all the sketchy characters he deals with…
lol Stalin,
One could also say the same about McCain…
Stalin,
I have to agree with Jeremy McCain is a little older and has more time in Washington. I’m sure his sketchy character count is much higher. I am not an Obama drone as you know I just call it like I see it.
At least with Hillary we would have had a few cover ups, murders, and unexplained suicide by gunshot to the back of the head to add to the excitement. LOL
I crack myself up sometimes
Jeremy,
No, not really. You also have to consider that Obama has racked up all these friends in a few short years, while McCain has been in politics for half a century.
Melvin,
Well who and where are those characters? We can’t just assume.
Stalin,
Unless you consider a few short years over 20 years, then I might agree with you.
McCain’s sketchy characters aren’t an assumption. They have been identified and proven over the past few months on this very news board time and again. To assume that you do not know about these sketchy characters would mean that you are blindly following McCain because of his status as a Republican and ignoring the multitude of news against McCain. Judging by your previous posts, you are not, so I can only assume you are challenging us on the chance that we might be too lazy to dig up the information about McCain’s sketchy associates for the billionth time.
Jeremy,
I do consider 3 years in the US senated a few short years. I live in Illinois and being a state senator is a joke so I don’t count that
I certainly am not blindly following McCain because I don’t even like him that much. The “characters” that have been linked to McCain are a stretch at best and do not come close to the likes of Wright, Eyers, Rezko, etc.
By the way, an Obama supporter should never accuse someone else of following blind faith…Hope, Change, Future, Hurray!
*sigh* Jeremy, Obama doesn’t have 20 years experience in preparing for the Presidency. He said he didn’t have enough experience to run himself, remember?
http://www.youtube.com/wa.....gexyfVpFMU
Babs,
I never said he had 20 years of experience in preparing for the presidency. Stalin stated that Obama racked up all of these sketchy friends in a few short years which is false.
Stalin,
He gained them during his life experience, Wright being one that he gained 20 years ago, Rezko whom he first met 18 years ago, and Ayers 8 years ago. Saying that he ‘racked them up in three short years’ (over the term of his time in office) is silly and completely ruins the basis of your argument.
Further, you can hardly call the link between McCain and John Hagee a stretch since McCain actively sought his endorsement. There are others that have shown a solid link to McCain given on this very web page time and again.
I am not an Obama supporter, as I have said in times past. I am not a McCain supporter either. I simply haven’t made up my mind on the issue. Yes, I am a registered Republican, but as I have said before, I’m not one to blindly follow a party or person based solely on political preference, race, or gender. Personally, I am leaning more toward McCain because I find it difficult to vote for a person that wants to blindly remove all soldiers out of Iraq without determining the consequences of that action. There are a few more reasons, but that is a different subject for a different day.
Now it is you who are making these “broad insulting statements” to any and all Obama supporters. Something that you vehemently defended just yesterday.
Hmm, my href didn’t work out as planned. the paragraph was supposed to state:
“Now it is you who are making these broad insulting statements to any and all Obama supporters. Something that you vehemently defended just yesterday.” The hyperlink was supposed to be on the ‘broad insulting statements’ bit.
Jeremy,
I’m still confused as to how I made a broad insulting statment. Please clarify.
If you are referring to this, “Hope, Change, Future, Hurray!”
I’m just having a little fun. I think that we could use some humor every now and then.
Jeremy, I apoligize if I miunderstood your statement. But I don’t think I misunderstood this:
“Further, you can hardly call the link between McCain and John Hagee a stretch since McCain actively sought his endorsement.”
McCain has never attended Hagee’s church, has never heard one sermon he preached, did not have a personal relationship with him, and certainly wasn’t a member of his church for 20 years. He simply went after a political endorsement, part of the game. So yes, it’s a BIG stretch to compare McCain/Hagee to Obama/Wright. No matter how hard one tries to do that, it just isn’t going to change the facts. And the facts don’t support a legitimate claim for comparison. The ONLY comparison that can be made is that both Hagee and Wright are ministers - and I use the term loosely.
But would Obama not be critized even moreso had he sought out Wright’s endorsement?
Seems like it’s poison either way with Wright, but McCain can seek out endorsements from Hagee, Falwell, and his “spiritual guide” Ron Parsely and be at no fault.
Videos!
Hagee: (whole vid is okay but only need to watch 1st 2 min)
Falwell:
http://www.youtube.com/wa.....-CAcdta_8I
Parsely:
http://www.youtube.com/wa.....re=related
Here’s the Hagee link:
http://www.youtube.com/wa.....DI7pt9KGs4
I think they’re very different situations. We just love to compare and contrast, don’t we? Whereas people have been concerned about Wright’s influence in Obama’s life, there seems to be very little cause for concern where Hagee and McCain are concerned. As Babs pointed out, McCain may have sought him out for endorsement, but he had never even listened to one of the man’s sermons.
Of course that’s unsettling for just the opposite reason - McCain sought out the endorsement of a religious figure who he evidently knew little about. So why did he seek to associate himself with Hagee, if not out of religious inspiration, if he never encountered Hagee in a church?
This may be why there has been some talk about evangelicals moving toward Obama recently. His church associations are at best bewildering and at worst fairly disturbing - but there’s still a perception that there may be sincerity contained in them somewhere. That’s the source of his problem, in fact.
By contrast, McCain’s insincerity has been his defense. McCain’s sort of been caught red handed trying to pull the evangelical base into line behind him without anything more than a token attempt to court the highly influential members of the community - and burnt those bridges as soon as they became politically unsuitable for him. His obvious insincerity keeps it from being a Wright-esqe situation for him, but it also reveals that, from his eyes, religion is just another brand of politics.
He sought Hagee’s endorsement for the same reason he sought George Bush’s endorsement: he needed the street cred. I imagine this leaves the religious voters of this country, particularly in the conservative base, feeling a bit used and less than enthusiastic about uniting behind McCain.
IMHO none of McCain’s religious associations are likely to injure him - because there’s largely a perception that he doesn’t actually care to associate with them all that much. In the long run that perception may damage him more than Wright ever hurt his opponent.
Yes, I do agree that the connection to Obama Wright vs. McCain Hagee is a little more dubious then the latter.
Let’s not forget about Charles Keating and McCain during his first months in the Senate (Talk about racking up dubious friends early on in his political career) which parallels the Obama/Rezko link but is arguably more dubious in that McCain actually used his office to aid Keating.
Also, you should look at the link between McCain and Charlie Black, Rick Davis, and Paul Manafort. All three are identified with organizations that represented governments that are torturers and human rights abusers. This link is as strong as the super weak link between Obama and Ayers.
Further, Wayne Green and Wayne Berman (top economic advisors of McCain) who billed Ameriquest Mortgage group for lobbying fees. A company that played a major role in today’s mortgage crisis.
Wayne Drizin, a convicted felon, is further connected to McCain through Charlie Black.
What about McCain and Wes Gullet who was one of McCain’s old gambling buddy? This relationship included a dubious land deal which McCain was an opponent on until his campaign manager of 1992 (Wes Gullet) and one of his major campaign donors were hired on as lobbyists for the proponents of the land deal. After, McCain was a key figure in pushing the deal through.
Many more, but these are all examples that I can come up with over the 30 minutes of research that I did. Some of them are very tenuous links but some are as strong if not stronger then the Obama-Wright link.