Have you heard of Jim Johnson? The former head Fannie Mae is one of Obama's "VP vetters." And as the New York Sun reports, Johnson
took at least five real estate loans totaling more than $7 million from Countrywide Financial Corp. through an informal program for friends of the company's CEO, Angelo Mozilo, the Wall Street Journal reported Saturday. The Journal said at least two of the mortgages, among a series of loans made available to people Countrywide officials called "friends of Angelo," were at rates below market averages, though it is difficult to predict a market rate without access to nonpublic information about a borrower's credit history and other factors that can reduce interest charges on a loan…
On the campaign trail, Mr. Obama has criticized Countrywide's executives. "These are the people who are responsible for infecting the economy and helping to create a home foreclosure crisis. Two million people may end up losing their homes," Mr. Obama said in March.
Add Johnson to the list of controversial Obama friends. As Hugh Hewitt says, "Like Obama receiving special favors from Tony Rezko, Johnson seems to have benefitted nicely from his public 'service.'"
At Real Clear Politics, Blake Dvorak notes, "Might not be such a big deal had the Obama campaign not gone after Mark Penn for his ties to Countrywide." Goldfarb has more on this at the McCain Report and concludes that "it looks like the Obama campaign is not too worried about who its top officials do business with."
Bloggers agree that Johnson's actions do not embody Obama's message of "change." Hot Air's Ed Morrissey explains: "Obama has run on a promise to change politics in Washington. Given that he has no executive experience, no foreign policy experience, no military experience, and no legislative track record, it's about the only platform he has left. Does appointing an ethically-challenged, long-time party fixer to a VP search committee look like New Politics or the same old garbage?" At The Corner, Mark Hemingway adds, "Bear in mind that Jim Johnson is the guy that's supposed to be helping Obama vet VP candidates, and yet he's hardly a spokesman for ethical standards. When Barack Obama talks about reforming Washington, it's not exactly comforting to know that the likes of Jim Johnson is helping him do it."
Slate's Mickey Kaus asks, "Is Obama really going to let this story drag out all week? Are Johnson's allies so powerful he must be protected--the way Rev. Wright was protected, for a time? Why not say 'This is not the Jim Johnson I know' and throw him overboard?" But at Contentions, Jennifer Rubin says "rather than just throwing Johnson overboard it may be more productive to examine their entire fact-checking and vetting operation."
