Obama's failure to vet the vetter
Barack Obama has campaigned as an outsider with a pronounced disdain for Washington establishment insiders; he has promised us a respite from the old politics. And yet, in virtually his first act as the presumptive Democratic nominee,
Obama's failure to vet the vetter
Dick Polman, Inquirer National Political Columnist
Barack Obama has campaigned as an outsider with a pronounced disdain for Washington establishment insiders; he has promised us a respite from the old politics. And yet, in virtually his first act as the presumptive Democratic nominee, he has enlisted, as a key vetter of potential running mates, a classic Washington establishment insider, an old-politics fixer who has feathered his own nest thanks to sweetheart favors bestowed by corporate pals with close links to the subprime mortgage fiasco.
Obama felt compelled yesterday to defend his tin-eared enlistment of Jim Johnson. His defense was actually quite lame, as I'll explain later. But first, let us list the ways that Johnson is a bad idea:
1. His presence contradicts the spirit of the Obama message. Obama has set his bar very high; he has vowed to repudiate politics as usual. Johnson epitomizes politics as usual. Washington insiders typically bring their baggage with them. Johnson's baggage includes longstanding personal dealings with Countrywide Federal Corp. - which Obama himself assailed back in March as "a company that is as responsible as any firm in the country for the housing crisis we're facing today...These are the folks who are responsible for infecting the economy and helping to create a home foreclosure crisis." And his baggage includes a '90s stint as CEO of Fannie Mae, the federally-chartered secondary market mortgage investor. Federal investigators have authored reports on mismanagement and corruption inside Fannie Mae. Johnson has never been charged with any wrongdoing, but the link looks bad. Symbolism matters, particularly since Obama is seeking to symbolize something new.
2. Johnson is a bad idea on the substance. As news reports first indicated last weekend, Johnson has received at least $7 million in home loans from Countrywide Federal - at rates considerably below market average - simply because Countrywide CEO Angelo Mozilo considered Johnson a worthy friend. Mozilo reportedly aided other friends in a similar fashion. Mozilo is also one of the Countrywide principals that Obama singled out for criticism in March.
3. On substance, the Countrywide link is only part of the story. Johnson has served on the boards of five corporations that have granted lavish pay and perk packages to their CEOs. Actually, it's worse than that: Johnson has served on their compensation committees (and headed at least one of them), with the job of deciding the size of those pay and perk packages. These five companies have reportedly been rebuked by various corporate-responsibility watchdogs (Institutional Shareholder Services and The Corporate Library) for various accounting errors and for lavishing executive perks far in excess of job performance. In the case of one Minnesota company, where Johnson headed the compensation committee, the CEO was awarded $1.4 billion in stock options - but, after federal regulators and shareholders protested, the CEO was forced to give back almost half the amount. Ironically, Obama has sponsored a Senate bill that would curb the kind of excesses that his own vetter has engaged in.
4. As stressed earlier, Johnson has never been charged with any wrongdoing in connection with his '90s stint as the CEO of Fannie Mae. But he got a great deal there nevertheless. According to a 2006 report by the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, Fannie Mae employed some accounting tricks to mask the true size of Johnson's 1998 post-employment compensation package. His official take was roughly $7 million; the actual amount was $21 million. In the words of the report, Fannie Mae "failed to disclose to (us) in a timely manner" the full scope of the Johnson deal.
5. Some might take note of items one through four and say, "So what? That's just old stuff that has nothing to do with Johnson's long experience vetting prospective Democratic running mates." Well, here's the thing: his track record as a vetter isn't that great, anyway.
Four years ago, working for the Kerry campaign, Johnson came up with John Edwards - who, in terms of chemistry, turned out to be a bad fit for Kerry, and who, in terms of states and constituencies, wound up delivering squat. And let's recall what happened in 1984, when Johnson - as chairman of the Walter Mondale campaign - was the key guy who came up with the disastrous Geraldine Ferraro. Ferraro's husband, John Zaccaro, was a New York wheeler dealer with questionable business connections, yet his records were never scrutinized in advance. As Time magazine reported, in the late summer of 1984, "the Mondale camp's pre-nomination review of the finances of Ferraro and her husband John Zaccaro fell short of the rigorous inquisition some other potential vice-presidential choices and their families have been put through."
Obama was asked about Johnson yesterday, at least with respect to the sweet loan deals with Countrywide. Here's what the candidate said: "I am not vetting my VP search committee for their mortgages...I mean, this is a game that can be played - everybody, you know, who is tangentially related to our campaign, I think, is going to have a whole host of relationships...These aren't people who are working for me. They're not people, you know, who I have assigned to a job in a future administration..."
So let's review: Obama taps, as a chief vetter of prospective running mates, a guy whose track record and pedigree contradict the core Obama message. Then, when he is called on this, he insists that the guy is only "tangentially related" to the campaign, and not really working for him. Which is an odd characterization, given the fact that Johnson had been entrusted with helping to find the best person qualified to spend eight years a mere heartbeat away from the presidency.
I assume that Johnson probably learned some valuable lessons about his Ferraro experience in 1984. But it appears Obama still have a few things to learn about the challenge of meeting the high expectation and standards that he has established for himself.
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MIDDAY UPDATE: Well, guess what. The guy who Obama says is only "tangentially related" to the campaign announced this afternoon that he is severing all his tangents. In other words, Jim Johnson has quit.
Here's the statement from Obama: "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. 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 was smart to kill this story dead today, rather than keep wobbling as he did yesterday.
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Did you know that the Boston Red Sox are terrorists? I learned this last night, when I saw Coco Crisp bump fists with the first-base coach. I'm not sure what secret al Qaeda messages passed between them, but it sure looked shady. And it appears that the Detroit Tigers are even worse; when they left the field last night, I saw two of the outfielders bump their gloves. Perhaps that's a signal to launch nukes.
Thanks to Fox News, we do need to watch out for those fist bumps, so there I was, just being vigilant.
The other day, as you may have heard, a Fox News host named E. D. Hill critiqued the now-famous bumping of fists between Obama and wife Michelle on the night he clinched the nomination. What could that gesture possibly signify, she playfully wondered. Perchance could it be, in her words, "a terrorist fist jab"?
But after it became apparent that not even Fox News could abide by its own innuendo, Hill felt compelled yesterday to issue a mea culpa on the air: "I mentioned various ways that the Obamas' fist bump in St. Paul had been characterized in the media. I apologize, because, unfortunately, some thought I personally had characterized it inappropriately. I regret that. It was not my intention."
Which only prompts me to wonder: To whom is Hill referring? What media outlets have been characterizing the Obama fist bump as a terrorist gesture? Does Hill have an actual example - or, dare I say it, does this characterization exist only in the fever swamps of the "fair and balanced"?
As an ardent supporter of Obama's. I must say when I heard he had hired Johnson, my first thought was about the corporate ties and that the Media and repubs would have a field day with this one. I think a little more thought should have gone into this and how it may look a little hypocritical. OBAMA '08— JSS- Haven't you all learned how it works with Obama yet: Pay attention to what I SAY, NOT what I DO! Once again, we get another glimpse at the man behind the curtain. And you wonder why so many Democrats are planning on voting for McCain in the fall.— dhallenbeck
- dhallenbeck, don't take what dems say now at face value. However, Obama picking this fellow is inordinately stupid and would be wise to dump him immediately. He dumped Wright, does he have this need to attach himself to controversy? And finally, I have to wonder what Hill was thinking. Does she live under a rock? Has never watched any sporting event, ever? Or is it a requirement that fox news analysts work the words 'terror', 'terrorism', 'terrorist', or 'al-qaeda' in every segment?— psv
- This is not mention that Johnson is also a registered lobbyist and is partnered with George Soros in a venture called Perseus, which invests in pharmaceutical sciences and also owns the publishing house of the Scott McClellan book. Interesting. How can he dump this guy now, after his defense of his hiring. Ooops, sorry, he was not hired since he does not work for the campaign. Left out of this post was Obama's statement that "he does not vet people for their mortgages", that Johnson "does not work" for his campaign, that "everyone associated with the campaign has associations" they are not proud of, and that he cannot "hire vetters to vet the vetters". Now, after all those statements, how can he fire the guy....when he said he is not working for the campaign. And if he asks the guy to step down, that just smacks of more phoniness. He has set the bar high.....maybe so high he cannot reach it. As for E.D. Hill...that was just plain stupid. She took items posted on far right blogs and took them as media reports. I am glad she gave a mea culpa.— tom - wilmington, de
- Little more on the terrorist fist jab. Please see the last 30 seconds of the following video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wR6nFtOMTs Kind of ironic that Fox News blowhards Sean Hannity and Oliver North engage in their own fist jab.— Publius
- Wow, E. D. Hill obviously does not know what a fist bump is. It must be quite a fall for her --- from cool kid high school cheerleader all the way down to Fox Newcaster...dork!— yobill626
- I never thought Obama was an "outsider" as far as policy is concerned. Let's face it, he's a corporate liberal (like Hillary) , which is why I laugh when he's called a radical. However, I do think he deserves credit for being against the Iraq war when it wasn't popular. I think he can bring us universal healthcare. Hopefully he can get our troops out of Iraq quickly, but I get less and less optimistic about that one. Also, I think having a black or mixed race president would be a real step for this country.— p-diddy
- Tom wrote: "This is not mention that Johnson is also a registered lobbyist and is partnered with George Soros in a venture called Perseus, which invests in pharmaceutical sciences and also owns the publishing house of the Scott McClellan book. Interesting." Good one, Tom. You need a break.— p-diddy
- Nice catch Tom. That statement he made about not vetting people for their mortgages is incredibly insulting. Sounds to me like Obama was given some recommendations on who his VP search team should be comprised of and he didn't give it the appropriate smell test. The bar is indeed high for anyone claiming the high ground. But when I hear McCain saying setting a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq is unimportant, I know that Priority 1 thru 100 for me can only be achieved by voting for Obama. Also, despite his occasional gaffes, Obama still has run the best campaign (smart, organized) of any of the candidates and is an indication of what we can expect from an Obama presidency.— JeffA
- Shall we remind Dick who George Bush's VP vetter was? How did that turn out? Do we really know how much of a sweetheart deal Johnson actually got? As far as Kerry picking Edwards, it is obvious that Kerry didn't use Edwards right. Lastly, Obama is going to get hammered no matter who he chose as a VP vetter. One of them has to be a lawyer and most DC lawyers have uncomfortable alliances.— Calvin Jones & the 13th Apostle
- p-diddy, By your comment about electing a black or mixed race candidate being a real step for this country, are you implying that people should vote for Obama simply for that reason? So if Obama loses (for whatever reason) is the country taking a step backward because we elected a caucasian president? My point about Johnson being a registered lobbyist simply is pointing out the fact that he represents everything Obama has been campaigning against...a Washington insider who lobbied large corporations and received sweetheart deals from those same corporations. It strikes me that you see not the least bit of irony in how Obama campaigns and what his actions say about his real beliefs. Which is the real Obama? Is he simply saying what he needs to say to get elected? JeffA, I sense some sarcasm, but Obama should vet people for their backgrounds before putting them in charge of his VP selection process. From where and how people get funding for their lifestyles should be priority number one in this process. And what McCain said is that withdrawal from Iraq is less important than casualties. I find it interesting that everyone is okay with troops being in Korea, Japan, Germany and other sites but not with staying in Iraq to serve the same function they do in those other countries.— tom - wilmington, de
- the fist-jab thing is such an obvious tactic, so get used to it. forget right wing or left wing, the intention is simply to get the association of Obama being a terrorist out to a few million seriously ignorant people, you know, like the ones who also think he is a muslim no matter what anyone says. it's the natural continuation of the dumbing down of everything in this country. and, it's actually kind of clever.— Marrrk
- Jeez- just last week Obama said selecting his VP running mate was the #1, top priority for his campaign this summer! Looks like Obama f-ed that up already. It is getting very crowded under that Obama bus heh!— justablogger
- tom-wilmington, de appears not to have done very well with modern world history. Obviously, there is a big difference between the situation as regards Iraq and the positioning of US troops in South Korea, Japan, Germany, etc. As the US Senate underscored last week, the US invasion of Iraq was essentially based on a pack of lies that were concocted by Bush, Cheney, et al. Of course, anyone with half a functionng brain already knew this. For the record, "everyone" is not okay with the situation of US troops stationed abroad. It is expensive to have troops stationed overseas in substantial numbers and with the USD crumbling in value against other major currencies and with the price of energy going through the roof and beyond (btw, a gallon of petrol in Germany costs more than USD 8.00/gallon) the cost of these overseas military stations is having an increasingly negative effect on the fiscal position of the federal government. Of course, I am not sure what all this has to do with Sen Obama, Mr Johnson and questionable loans from Countrywide.— LondonDan
- Sorry, I would have commented earlier, but I was just revived after passing out in shock. A U.S. Senator with ties to a Washington insider? Next thing you know, someone will report reality tv is fake sometimes. Yeah, I'm not a fan of leeches like Jim Johnson (just his name alone sucks). It's people like him, the Mary Matlin's and Jim Carville's of the world who make politics the most reviled profession on earth. Call me jaded, but only naive teenagers or the truly clueless should be surprised by this. Obama should emphasize "change" and avoid talking too much about being an outsider, because any politician IN OFFICE is automatically part of the insiders club.— BeamMeUpScotty
Cited by the Columbia Journalism Review as one of the nation's top political reporters, and lauded by the ABC News political website as "one of the finest political journalists of his generation," Dick Polman is a national political columnist at the Philadelphia Inquirer. He is on the full-time faculty at the University of Pennsylvania, as "writer in residence." Dick has been a frequent guest on C-Span, MSNBC, CNN, NPR and the BBC. He covered the 1992, 1996, 2000, and 2004 presidential campaigns.
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