Via Memeorandum, Jim Johnson steps down:
Obama and his campaign staunchly defended Jim Johnson against the charge that his ties to troubled mortgage lender Countrywide disqualified him from sitting on Obama’s vice presidential search committee, but Johnson just pulled the plug: He resigned as chairman of the steering committee just now.
“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 said in a statement.
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?
Who Will Vet the Vetters of The People Vetting the People Vetting Obama’s VP?Post + Comments (70)