Barack Obama’s Political Mistake Jim Johnson Resigns From Campaign

In a sign that we’re now in a political age when the “vetters” will need to be “vetted” (and perhaps eventually the vetters who vet the vetter will have to be vetted as well), Jim Johnson, the quintessential Democratic insider who was heading Democratic presumptive Presidential nominee Barack Obama’s Vice Presidential search, has quit the campaign after a controversy over his background.

Rack this one up as a clear mistake for the normally politically astute Obama, who at first did the obligatory pooh-poohing of the controversy’s meaning — but then moved swiftly to cut his losses. The Los Angeles Times’ blog notes:

Jim Johnson, the former head of Fannie Mae who was leading Barack Obama’s vice presidential search when his favorable loans with Countrywide were revealed, is stepping down from the Obama campaign to avoid becoming a distraction.

…[T]he candidate sought to minimize the impact of the embarrassing episode. He said:

“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.”

The fact is the situation was untenable for a campaign that parades itself as an agent of change prepared to invade Washington and reform its sleazy insider ways. There are few other modern Democrats who are more savvy or insider than Johnson, who also happens to be a significant fundraiser for Obama.

The LAT’s blogger Andrew Malcolm also adds:

So Johnson, D.C. veteran that he is, knew he had to walk the plank. he offered to resign early today or late last night. And the campaign said, gee, well O.K. So long.

What does it say about Obama and what is to come?

1. When Obama saw it was an untenable situation, he moved quickly to cut his losses. But not without first stubbing his toe.

2. Obama has been credited with understanding the new news media, which is comprised of the old media, talk and cable radio shows with their talking (and screaming) heads, perpetually outraged bloggers, blogs that are increasingly informal extensions of political campaigns, and You Tubes which can run dumb or inept replies to questions about controversies forever. This incident shows Obama still has some understanding to do. (Perhaps this shows he has learned the wrong lessons from Bill Clinton this year…).

3. His initial reply to this controversy didn’t help him and made him look like one more evasive pol, or an incredibly naive candidate. The Washington Post’s Dan Balz:

The most important decision Barack Obama will make between now and the November election is the selection of a vice presidential running mate. That makes all the more remarkable his effort Tuesday to suggest that the people he has put in charge of helping make the decision are somehow not really part of his campaign.

….At a news conference in St. Louis yesterday, Obama was asked about Johnson and the fact that the candidate has often criticized the activities of Countrywide. Rather than defend his choice, he sought to suggest that the role Johnson is playing is only tangential to his campaign and that it is impossible for the campaign to vet the vetters.

“Jim Johnson has a very discrete task, as does Eric Holder [another member of the VP search team], and that is simply to gather up information about potential vice presidential candidates,” Obama responded. “They’re performing the job well. It’s a volunteer, unpaid position and they’re giving me information, and I will then exercise judgment in terms of who I’ll want to select as a vice presidential candidate. So these are folks who are working for me, not people who I have assigned to a particular job in the future administration, and ultimately, my assumption is, is that this is a discrete task they’ll be performing over the next two months.”

The distinctions Obama tried to draw raise other questions. Is he suggesting that Johnson, who is not paid, is exempt from campaign strictures that might apply to the lowliest paid staffers? Is he suggesting that Johnson, while overseeing some of the most sensitive work underway in the campaign, will act merely as a transmission belt for information scooped up from any and all available sources? Is he suggesting he would not select Johnson for a role in his administration? Or that different rules would apply to those he might select than those who play central roles in the campaign?

A can of worms, to be sure — so now Obama and Johnson have moved to throw the can of worms out.

But the memory of the can of worms will linger and some of Obama’s foes will make sure it lingers. And they’ll look for new cans of worms to open…

HERE’S A BIT OF WEBLOG REACTION TO THIS STORY:
–John Cole:

If prior to reading this post, you had no clue who Jim Johnson was, don’t worry, you are not alone. In fact, if you polled the country, about half of them would ask if you were talking about the former Cowboys coach, the other half would have no clue. Which is to say this is a story about nothing. The cable news channels might talk about it for a minute or two, and I am sure someone in the GOP will gloat over this before strapping on a wetsuit tonight, but this is really no big deal (although probably a sign of what is to come in the next few months- it will be hard to keep up with all of it). The only thing that matters is who the VP choice will be, not who vetted the choice. Quick: Who vetted John Edwards? Al Gore? No fair using google. The only reason some people remember who vetted Dick Cheney is because it was… Dick Cheney. How is that working out for the country?

–Red State:

So what is the Obama campaign going to do? They say John McCain is not allowed to talk about this. They say John McCain is hypocritical to harass Obama on this because he has so many connections to lobbyists.

Best I can figure, Obama must staff his campaign with high school dropouts because they very clearly don’t understand the meaning of the word hypocrisy. Hypocrisy means you, Barry, set standards that you, Barry, are failing to live up to.

Pointing out your hypocrisy is not itself hypocrisy — it’s actually shoot fish in barrel.

–My DD:

I’m glad the Obama campaign realized this is not a battle worth waging. The fact is, Obama is likely to be held to a higher standard than McCain is on various measures over the coming months because Obama has staked his campaign largely on judgment and a new kind of politics. Who Obama surrounds himself with, whether in an official paid capacity or not, matters and it’s good that they’ve learned that lesson now rather than later.

–Marc Ambinder:

The RNC’s immediate reaction to Johnson’s stepping away was a press release asking when Obama would ask Eric Holder to step down. Where does the war of attritition end? And why did the Obama campaign, if they were standing on principle, decide to back down in the face of criticism? If Obama’s choice of Johnson was a mistake in the first place, then that’s one thing. But if the campaign doesn’t believe they made an error — and they don’t — why give the Republicans a trophy head?

–The Democratic Daily’s Pamela Leavey notes that political times have changed…

(The graphic is one of several delightful posters available from Despair.com)