Jim Johnson Resigns From Obama's VP Vetting Team

Jim Johnson of Countrywide Financial has resigned from the Obama campaign after criticism of his leading the VP vetting team. The former Fannie Mae CEO’s resignation follows controversy over his mortgage loans from Countrywide. Obama 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.” It's interesting that within such a short timespan Obama goes from saying Johnson was not really "working for me" and that his job was "simply to gather up information" to now talking about how Johnson was involved in the "very important task of gathering information about my vice presidential nominee." I guess if it was a "very important task" it validates all the criticism Obama was trying to deflect with his pre-resignation rhetoric. If you want more info on Jim Johnson check out one of my previous posts on the issue.

McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds said that “Jim Johnson’s resignation raises serious questions about Barack Obama’s judgment. Selecting the vice presidential nominee is the most important decision a presidential candidate can make and one even Barack Obama has said will ’signal how I want to operate my presidency.’ By entrusting this process to a man who has now been forced to step down because of questionable loans, the American people have reason to question the judgment of a candidate who has shown he will only make the right call when under pressure from the news media. America can’t afford a president who flip-flops on key questions in the course of 24 hours. That’s not change we can believe in.”
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