The reason it is so important - and where the McCain campaign is falling short - is that, when this connection is considered along with other questionable connections for Obama, it clearly points to a disturbing lack of judgement on his part.
Barack Obama has not been truthful in his disclosure of his relationship with Bill Ayers. His campaign's statements of:
"Bill Ayers lives in his neighborhood. Their kids attend the same school. They're certainly friendly, they know each other, as anyone whose kids go to school together."- just don't hold water.
Obama launched his campaign for the Illinois Legislature in Ayers home, in addition to Obama serving on the Board of Directors for a non-profit organization that Ayers started and ran. Furthermore, Ayers' children are in their late 20's or early 30's and Obama's kids are in gradeschool.
But the Obama campaign wants to dismiss the Ayers connection.....OK......let's do that and focus on his other questional judgements. The Obama campaign wants to focus on the economy. Ok, let's look at the players.
The economy is at this point in history due to the under-regulation of the Federal Government sponsored entities Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. During the growth of these quasai-agencies, when they were guaranteeing billions in low documentation/no documentation mortgages, as well as dealing in securities that are backed by these low doc/no doc mortgages and which were traded on Wall Street and around the world, purchased by the likes of Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns, the guys at the helm were none other than Franklin Raines, Chairman of the Board & CEO; Tim Howard, Chief Financial Officer at Fannie Mae; Jim Johnson, a former executive at Lehman Brothers who was later forced from his position as CEO at Fannie Mae.
Obama's judgement, and his campaign's ties to the recent economic problems, lie with these three men. And this is where the McCain camp needs to get busy:
Franklin Raines: Chief Economic Adviser to the Obama Campaign.
Tim Howard: Also a Chief Economic Adviser to the Obama Campaign.
Jim Johnson: Hired as a Senior Economic Adviser to the Obama Campaign and selected to head the Vice Presidential search committee.
McCain also needs to look to the numbers: Obama, in a very short, less than one-term US Senate career, has amassed campaign contributions from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to rank his only second in the most donations received to long-time Senator Chris Dodd, Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee which oversees the likes of Fannie and Freddie.
If we dislike nothing else about Obama, and there is more to question, let's at least call him out on his judgement and his ties to individuals who were at the root of the economic meltdown. That is why it is so important.
