Fannie Mae Slips from Obama Lobbyist Litany

by Josh Gerstein

Tue, 16 Sep 2008 at 2:15 AM

There was a curious omission Monday when Senator Obama lit into Senator McCain over the presence of lobbyists in the upper echelon of his campaign.

"Listen, it's great that he now wants to talk about putting corporate lobbyists in their place. But he needs to explain why he put seven of them in charge of his campaign," Mr. Obama told a crowd in Grand Junction, Colo. "Lobbyists for the insurance industry and for the oil industry and for Freddie Mac and for foreign governments. And if you think those lobbyists are working day and night for John McCain just to put themselves out of business, well, I've got a bridge to sell you up in Alaska."

The Democratic nominee repeated almost exactly the same words in a speech in Pueblo, Colo, later in the day.

It's a good riff, to be sure, but it should be noted that Mr. Obama decoupled Freddie Mac from the other agency almost always mentioned in the same breath: Fannie Mae. Both were effectively nationalized earlier this month, at unknown cost to the taxpayer. And news accounts about the lobbying ties of Mr. McCain's aides usually mention the two quasi-governmental agencies in tandem, see e.g., this or this,

Why is Mr. Obama leaving Fannie Mae out of his lobbyist riff? It couldn't be because the man he first selected to oversee his vice presidential vetting process, James Johnson, was once Fannie Mae's CEO?

In retrospect, while Mr. Obama's aides were none too happy about stories in The New York Sun and other newspapers highlighting Mr. Johnson's ties to Fannie Mae and other figures in the subprime lending crisis, those stories did the Democratic nominee a huge favor. Mr. Obama's economic message would be even more hampered today had he not jettisoned the ex-CEO back in June and instead allowed him to see through the vice presidential selection process.

Related Topics: General Election

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