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The Insider

June 10, 2008 9:36 AM

That's the problem with bringing a Washington, DC, insider on board. They're sometimes covered with the goop from the insides of Washington.

What's the big deal about Obama campaign fundraiser/Vice President selection committee member Jim Johnson getting $7 million in loans from Countrywide Financial Corp.? (As the Wall Street Journal reported Saturday and the New York Sun's Josh Gerstein followed up on.).

Mortgages with rates below market averages, including "a $5 million home equity line of credit against a house in Ketchum, Idaho, a 5.25% loan of $1.3 million for a home in Palm Desert, Calif., and a 3.875% loan of $971,650 for a home in Washington, D.C." Mortgages set up through an informal program for friends of the company's CEO, Angelo Mozilo.

The problem is, Obama critics say, perception and hypocrisy. Obama had railed against Countrywide and Mozilo, and his campaign had impugned Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-NY, for taking money from Countrywide lobbyists and for allowing a senior campaign adviser to simultaneously do work for Countrywide.

**

Campaigning in Pennsylvania in March, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, assailed mortgage giant Countrywide Financial Corp., for embodying the economic and political culture dominated by corporate lobbyists and insiders.

"Countrywide Financial," Obama said. (Watch HERE.) "This is a company that is as responsible as any firm in the country for the housing crisis we're facing today. When Countrywide Financial was sold a few months ago, its top two executives got a combined $19 million. These are the folks who are responsible for infecting the economy and helping to create a home foreclosure crisis….They get a $19 million bonus while people are at risk of losing their home. What's wrong with this picture?"

("They" are Mozilo and the president of Countrywide, David Sambol.)

Around that time the Obama campaign also criticized Clinton for affiliations with Countrywide.

In the Washington Post: "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."

On MSNBC, senior Obama strategist David Axelrod criticized how senior Clinton strategist Mark Penn had consulted for Countrywide.  "She's stuck him with him through the revelation that his firm was working for Blackwater and working for Countrywide," Ax said (watch HERE.) "And, you know, so, it’s kind of stunning. Remember that the embassy said they weren't sure whether he was there as a representative of his firm or a representative of Senator Clinton. I mean, I think there are issues associated with this. I'm not - you (Keith Olbermann) can use the word hypocrisy, but there are certainly questions that arise from this."

**

Yesterday McCain told Fox News that the presence of Johnson on the Obama campaign "suggests a bit of a contradiction talking about how his campaign is going to be not associated with people like that. Clearly he is very much associated with that."

Shot back the Obama campaign, through spox Tommy Vietor, "It’s the height of hypocrisy for the McCain campaign to try and make this an issue when John Green, one of John McCain’s top advisors, lobbied for Ameriquest, which was one of the nation’s largest subprime lenders and a key player in the mortgage crisis.  As President, Senator Obama will crack down on fraudulent lenders and bring real relief to Americans struggling in the grip of the housing crisis—the kind of change that works for the American people.”

The Obama campaign through talking points first reported at Mark Halperin's The Page call this story "overblown and irrelevant...This an overblown story about what appear to be completely above-board transactions. The Wall Street Journal even admits that they don’t have a story-noting that it’s 'impossible' to know the factors that went into these arrangements."

(Note: the Wall Street Journal admits no such thing.)

Continue the talking points: "Americans know that we face a critical choice in this race-and isn’t about the terms of an outside advisor’s loans. This race is about leadership, and which candidate will crack down on fraudulent lenders and bring real relief to Americans struggling in the grip of the housing crisis. Barack Obama has offered a real solution to the housing crisis-John McCain hasn’t."

- jpt

June 10, 2008 | Permalink | Share | User Comments (31)

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Another major problem for Obama is he no longer has Hillary to act as a lightning rod for his "old politics" charge. The strategy won the Dem nomination and got Hillary out but now he deserves to be judged by the same standards he applied to his rival to win the nomination.

Posted by: hopesprings52 | Jun 10, 2008 10:11:04 AM

hopesprings

i never bought the new politics deal from obama,
because how are you going to bring new politics when you are surrounded by old school politicians? who are having to tell you everything?

Posted by: andjustice for all | Jun 10, 2008 10:04:48 AM

I was thinking "How long will it take before you hear obama using sen. clinton lingo?" now i hear him talking about solutions.

we have seen the constant drip, drip,drip of what a fraud obama is,and the drip is getting louder and faster.
My husband said yester afternoon, maybe we should give obama a chance. and I was quiet and just thought about it.
but by late yesterday evening i was listening to him talk about the economy,and listened to him stumble and flub up so much, i was just twisting in my seat in agony at how i was witnessing such an incompetent, he said to the audience member, "be quiet i can't hear myself think". which was an insult to intelligent people, because it was clear he had forgotten what he had memorized. clearly not a good understanding of the subject.

how can i give obama a try, when i watch and try to listen to him, and he just frustrates you and makes you sick we have picked the wrong one.
the people who picked obama really have done HIM a disservice, he and his wife are in something that is way above their heads.
and i am all for people learning to grow into a job.
but these times in our country were not the times.

everyone who has made it possible for
barack obama and john mccain to be our only choices for president is unpatriotic.

no matter what you say about his personal life-bill clinton' presidency was good for a good many american pocketbook, and when he gave a speech here at home or in china, it was a good one. some of us may not have liked what he said, but none of us were put off by the way he rep.the country policies.

we got a dummy with bush, will not a real dummy, because financially with all of his failed ventures, bush has faired well financially. always made money.

and with these two, it seem we have managed to get two who will pattern themselves after bush in their incompetency.

i think we as a nation have gone collectively crazy in having only
mccain and obama to choose from for president.

i would like to see the impeachement of bush get some traction, and carry through

Posted by: andjustice for all | Jun 10, 2008 10:02:10 AM

Obama gets more dispicible each day.

He is still playing his blame game. To take the eyes off him. Refuse to take responsibility.

His 10 year old behavior,pointing fingers at Hillary and McCain.

If he ever becomes President, who is he going to point fingers at blame for everything? who will be his scapegoat?

Posted by: seah | Jun 10, 2008 9:59:28 AM

Actually the WSJ DOES say that there is no way to know the criteria that went into determing in the interest rate and depending on the place and type of home it could very well be ABOVE market rate.

Posted by: Benjamin | Jun 10, 2008 9:56:54 AM

"As President, Senator Obama will crack down on fraudulent lenders and bring real relief to Americans struggling in the grip of the housing crisis—"

Exactly how does a president "crack down" on a business? Send the secret service to lock the doors?

"Barack Obama has offered a real solution to the housing crisis-"

And the solution is.....?

And how do we decide what lenders are "fraudulant"

Posted by: smith | Jun 10, 2008 9:56:42 AM

Mine is through Countrywide too. Got a fantastic rate. Doesn't mean I got an insider deal, just had great credit and 25% down.

Posted by: SERIOUSLY! | Jun 10, 2008 9:56:13 AM

This is something that is going to catch up with Obama. He often rails against things that he labels "the old politics" but then he goes and does exactly what he was condemning. This has happened many times but has not yet stuck but it will.

Posted by: hopesprings52 | Jun 10, 2008 9:55:44 AM

Gee, my mortgage is through Country - wide. Does this mean I can't vote for him?

Posted by: DAVID NH | Jun 10, 2008 9:50:43 AM

It's always a major character issue when an opponent does it, but "overblown" when Obama does it.

The truth is, Obama says one thing and does another when it comes to sub-prime mortgage lenders. Contributors from the industry have provided more than a million dollars to Senator Obama's campaign. In fact, Senator Obama has taken $1.8 million from the folks who have pushed these loans on unsuspecting working families. He's taken more money from the top ten subprime issuers -- more than $400,000 -- than any other presidential campaign. Following his economic speech in New York, the senator scheduled a fundraiser at Credit Suisse, one of the top sub-prime underwriters in the country.

Posted by: HoosierSue | Jun 10, 2008 9:44:52 AM

And we can all thank McCain's Economic Adviser Phil Gramm, co-sponsor of the Gramm-Leach-Billey Act for the Mortgage Meltdown.

Gramm's ties to McCain is a much bigger problem than Johnson's to Obama.

Posted by: SERIOUSLY! | Jun 10, 2008 9:43:05 AM

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