Ex-Friends of Barack
June 12, 2008
It turns out that Jim Johnson was not the man Barack
Obama thought he knew. The presumptive Democratic Presidential nominee
threw the former Fannie Mae CEO over the side as his Vice Presidential
vetter yesterday, only a day after he'd said that Mr. Johnson was only
"tangentially related" to his campaign and that criticism was a "game
that can be played."
Mr. Johnson was cast off after 
the Journal disclosed
that he had received sweetheart loans from Countrywide Financial – the
very firm that Mr. Obama has specifically excoriated for its role in
the mortgage meltdown. The press corps will now move on to other
things, but this is more than a campaign issue. The disclosure about
Mr. Johnson and his successor as Fannie CEO, Franklin Raines, raises
serious questions about the extent to which favorable mortgage pricing
contributed to Countrywide's rise and fall. At a minimum, a regulatory
probe is warranted.
As for Mr. Obama, Mr. Johnson now joins an intriguing
and growing list of Mr. Obama's ex-associates that includes the
Reverend Jeremiah Wright, Father Michael Pfleger, and former terrorist
bomber William Ayers. We might call this list eclectic, except that
there is a consistent pattern of bad judgment followed by an initial
defense, then followed by rapid disassociation and regret that none of
them were the men Mr. Obama "knew."
We can only wonder if Eric Holder, who is also among
Mr. Obama's veep vetters, will be the next to join this club. As Deputy
Attorney General in the Clinton Administration, he played a role in the
Marc Rich pardon that also deserves to be fully vetted – all the more
so if Mr. Holder is on the short list to be Mr. Obama's Attorney
General. Caroline Kennedy, the other member of Mr. Obama's veep vetting
team, has probably already inherited a stack of files from Mr. Johnson.
She might want to take a peek at Mr. Holder's too