Obama's Poor Judgment in Choosing Unethical Associates

Bill Smith, ARRA News: When I was young, my father and mother warned me that others would judge me by the friends with whom I associated. This fundamental truth applies to all of us as we are forced to evaluate with whom we associate and with whom we would like to represent us. Just a few days ago, Jim Johnson, the CEO of the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) from 1991 to 1998, resigned form Sen. Obama's vice presidential search committee. The Wall Street Journal reported Mr. Johnson received $1.9 million in loans at below market rates from Countrywide Financial, thanks to his friendship with Countrywide CEO Angelo Mozilo. In a press conference last Tuesday, Sen. Obama dismissed criticism of Mr. Johnson as "a game," and said he would keep him on. A day later, after The New York Times and The Washington Post raised more serious questions about Mr. Johnson and he resigned. In 2004, it was learned that Fannie Mae executives had concealed $10.6 billion in losses through questionable accounting practices. This was about 19 times the size of Enron's losses, but attracted much less media attention.

Now we see the patter pattern of using associates with unethical problems continuing with the potential appointment of Eric Holder to Obama vice presidential search committee. As reported by the Pittsburg Post Gazette, Eric Holder was deputy attorney general during the Clinton administration and was a key figure in the last-minute pardon of fugitive financier Marc Rich, whose ex-wife, Denise, was a major contributor to Clinton campaigns and to the Clinton library fund. Mr. Rich, who fled to Switzerland to avoid prosecution on 51 counts of tax fraud, was not eligible for a pardon under Justice Department guidelines. But Mr. Holder circumvented normal procedures and kept other Justice Department lawyers in the dark. A congressional committee described his conduct as "unconscionable."

Obama willingness to appointment people with low ethics to his Vice Presidential search committee should be a major issue of concern for all voters. If Obama were elected president, what other individuals with ethical problems or worse would he place in critical positions that will affect all of us? Cronyism and "pay back" appears high on Obama list. His past associations with bigoted people, convicted criminal, and others of questionable ethical problems, evidence Obama's poor judgement. Obama's poor judgment and his continued willingness to appoint friends and associates with low ethical standards reflects Obama association with the influence of the Chicago's Daley political machine rather than running his running for President of the United States. Of course, David Axelrod, Mayor Daley's chief image defender, is a top strategist for Obama's campaign and he was also the media consultant for Obama's US Senate campaign.
See also: There goes another one and Obama: ‘If They Bring a Knife to the Fight, We Bring a Gun’ and Obama Business Parter, Friend & Supporter Convicted of Corruption

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Tags: Barack Obama, Election 2008, Ethics, judgement To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!