Change?

Annie

Annie

Not So Junior Member
Not the most liberal or conservative guy around. There are lots of links, days worth:

http://www.slate.com/id/2192801/#embarrassed


Obama, EmbarrassedPlus--Will you be a Starbucks Snob?
By Mickey Kaus
Updated Monday, June 9, 2008, at 9:13 PM ET

Obama's Friend of Angelo: Barack Obama's choice of Jim Johnson to vet his VP prospects is already embarrassing his campaign, thanks to a WSJ story reporting that Johnson (according to the NY Sun)

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. ...​

Mozilo and Countrywide were deeply enmeshed in the subprime meltdown, of course, and Mozilo has been denounced by Obama for his business practices and multi-million dollar compensation. ...

a) Always trust content from kausfiles!

b) Obama's response suggests these were "completely above board transactions," which is a little different from saying they were "arms-length" or "market-rate" transactions. Why would Johnson avail himself of Mozilo's "friends of Angelo" program unless he got some kind of special deal, better than the deal Joe Citizen would get.? (And if it's so difficult to tell "the factors that went into these arrangements," as the Obama camp contends, then how "above board" were they?)

c) Johnson headed Fannie Mae. If Fannie Mae was really "the biggest buyer of Countrywide's mortgages," should Johnson really have gotten enmeshed as a consumer with Countrywide, particularly if it was difficult to tell if he was getting a special deal or not?

d) I don't know if Mozilo is a benevolent genius or evil. I saw him at a conference once and he's clearly an impressive person. But it's also quite clear that Obama has made him a symbol of the subprime mess, as McCain has noted. Update: As the RNC has been pointing out, Obama's campaign previously attacked Hillary strategist Mark Penn because he did some P.R. work for Countrywide--and attacked Hillary's campaign because it took contributions from representatives of Countrywide. ** (Now-embarrassing self-righteous David Plouffe quote below.)

e) Johnson was an atrocious, tin-eared choice on many other grounds. He's symbol of old Democratic elites--the Mondale Restoration!--and of Beltway business as usual. He's gotten obscenely rich off of public service while pursuing a failed liberal antipoverty theory (community develpment) and taking credit for spreading around other peoples money. He failed to catch Geraldine Ferraro's problems before they blew up on Mondale. He helped ead Fannie Mae into a multi-billion dollar debacle (even though he let his successor catch most of the blame). He said Mozilo's firm had "done a brilliant job of insulating itself for the down cycle" shortly before Mozilo's firm was clobbered in the down cycle, eventually selling itself to Bank of America for about a tenth of it's former value, according to the Sun.

Why would Obama, in his first big personnel decision, choose a paleoliberal greedhead with a track record of failure? You tell me! He's described Johnson as "a friend." It looks as if he was at best highly susceptible to amicable overtures from someone he about whom he should have retained some critical perspective.

f) 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? ...​

**--From WaPo back in March:

"Obama aides also said Clinton is in no position to stiffen oversight after taking contributions from mortgage industry lobbyists, including funds from representatives of Countrywide, which has been at the center of the mortgage meltdown. 'If we're really going to crack down on the practices that caused the credit and housing crises, we're going to need a leader who doesn't owe these industries any favors,' campaign manager David Plouffe said."​
[E.A.]



Update: Byron York has some more links. ... 5:47 P.M.
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If you pay for a small, cheap item with a $100 bill, you get a lot of change.

Buying 10 rolls of quarters will get you a lot of change.

Buying 200 rolls of pennies will get you even more change. But that's hard to spend - can't use pennies in vending machines.
 
Some of the folks around Obama are very questionable and certainly not indicative of 'change'.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20080610/pl_politico/10971

Obama vetter draws unwanted scrutiny

Lisa LererTue Jun 10, 5:37 AM ET

Jim Johnson, the disciplined, discreet and obsessively meticulous vice presidential vetter for Barack Obama, is a stalwart of the Washington establishment.

In the mid-1990s, he headed up a power trifecta: mortgage giant Fannie Mae, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the Brookings Institution, one of the city’s most prominent think tanks. At various times, political insiders have floated his name in Democratic administrations for White House chief of staff, Treasury secretary and president of the World Bank.

His circumspect ways – rare in a town known for its shameless attention seekers – have helped make the reserved Minnesotan one of Washington’s most influential powerbrokers and an early pick by the Obama campaign to handle the sensitive search for a running mate.

Yet despite Johnson’s legendary fastidiousness, his high-profile campaign role has suddenly exposed him to questions about his financial dealings. The questions range from his relationship with the embattled CEO of mortgage lender Countrywide Financial to his more recent oversight roles on various corporate compensation committees that approved hefty executive pay packages.

In a presidential campaign where the subprime mortgage crisis and high corporate salaries figure to be staples of debate, Johnson is now at risk of becoming a political liability for Obama, who’s trying to sell anxious voters on an economic message that calls for stricter financial industry regulation and ridding Washington of special favors and tax breaks for wealthy CEOs....
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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. ..."
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So.

Question, has any credible news source other than this blog stated that Obama's camp confirmed he's a VP contender anyway? This is the first I've heard of it.
 
LadyT said:
So.

Question, has any credible news source other than this blog stated that Obama's camp confirmed he's a VP contender anyway? This is the first I've heard of it.
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He isn't a contender, he's the guy hired to vet the contenders.
 
LadyT said:
So.

Question, has any credible news source other than this blog stated that Obama's camp confirmed he's a VP contender anyway? This is the first I've heard of it.
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The first link, Klause is hardly a conservative:

http://www.slate.com/id/2192801/#embarrassed

WSJ which is usually pretty good with the financial:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121279970984353933.htmlThanks to Damo's post, I realize I skipped that in reading your question. Oh well, the links are still about Johnson.
 
LadyT said:
So who are you going to vote for that's a better alternative and will give us change then?
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I'm not the one that's been clamoring for change. Lord knows where I'd like to see change wouldn't come from either McCain or Obama.
 
Kathianne said:
I'm not the one that's been clamoring for change. Lord knows where I'd like to see change wouldn't come from either McCain or Obama.
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The entire premise of this thread is ridiculous. its not even like he's asked this guy to be in his administration. Questionable pasts of people doing operational campaign work does not in anyway shape or form detract from the direction that Obama's going in or his leadership.

WTF does that have to do with his stance on actual issues, such as Iraq, Foreign relations, immigration policies, defense, education, and taxes?

Change comes with leadership and if you think its possible for him to run a successful campaign and presidency with people without ANY experience in Washington you're absolutely deluded.

Pathetic.

Given the amount of scandals that McCain has been through during his 200 year career this attempt to smear Obama by proxy is hypocritical at best and is nothing more than a detraction from actual issues.
 
LadyT said:
The entire premise of this thread is ridiculous. its not even like he's asked this guy to be in his administration. Questionable pasts of people doing operational campaign work does not in anyway shape or form detract from the direction that Obama's going in or his leadership.

WTF does that have to do with his stance on actual issues, such as Iraq, Foreign relations, immigration policies, defense, education, and taxes?

Change comes with leadership and if you think its possible for him to run a successful campaign and presidency with people without ANY experience in Washington you're absolutely deluded.

Pathetic.

Given the amount of scandals that McCain has been through during his 200 year career this attempt to smear Obama by proxy is hypocritical at best and is nothing more than a detraction from actual issues.
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Come now, posting something being discussed in the news is part of the reason we all check out the boards.

For the record I do think Obama will bring 'real change' I just have a feeling most are not going to be happy with the results.
 
Kathianne said:
Come now, posting something being discussed in the news is part of the reason we all check out the boards.

For the record I do think Obama will bring 'real change' I just have a feeling most are not going to be happy with the results.
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Then WTF was the point of posting this?
 
LadyT said:
Then WTF was the point of posting this?
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If you don't understand the weirdness of supporting someone who screams 'change' while following a playbook from tens of years ago, I can't explain it to you by the time of the election or the next one.

Bottom line, I really hope he's good, I'm quite certain he'll be elected. To hope I'm proven right, well it wouldn't be good for any of us.

Point was, from all the evidence, he's not the 'change' candidate many think, though as I said, I think he will bring change.
 
Ahhh Change ... this is a few months old ... but ooh so brilliant...

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEaS-K3j3M8"]YouTube - Changes - Presidential Candidates feat. Bowie[/ame]
 
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