Obama, the insider?
Posted: Friday, September 19, 2008 2:56 PM by Domenico Montanaro
From NBC/NJ's Adam Aigner-Treworgy
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. -- Once again calling a vote for Obama a “risk” during these dangerous economic times, McCain continued the line of attack that he laid out for the first time in Green Bay last night.
“The crisis on Wall Street, my friends, started in the Washington culture of lobbying and influence pedaling and he was right square in the middle of it,” McCain said, painting Obama as a Washington insider. “My friends, this is the problem in Washington. People like Sen. Obama have been too busy gaming the system and haven’t ever done a thing to actually challenge the system. That’s not country first, that’s Obama first.”
McCain once again drew the connection between Obama and two former CEO’s of Fannie Mae, Fred Raines and Jim Johnson. McCain argued that Raines was an advisor to his opponent’s campaign -- something the Obama camp denies. A campaign aide said Obama camp has asked the Washington Post for a correction to a July 16 story identifying Raines as having taken calls from the campaign. The Washington Post has not issued one.
McCain said Johnson was at one point in charge of Obama’s VP selection process.
“That same executive got $21 million of your money,” McCain said of Johnson. “And the other CEO, another supporter of Senator Obama, Mr. Raines got $25 million of your money. Let’s tell them to give it back. Let’s tell them to give it back.”
Although this line prompted a hearty “Give It Back!” chant from the crowd of more than 9,000 people crowded into the airport hanger in Blaine, until the government decided to intervene in Fannie Mae this month, it was a government-backed private company -- meaning any severance packages received by Raines or Johnson were paid out of the company’s profits, not taxpayer dollars as McCain implied.
Still, McCain contended today that Obama’s connection with these financial insiders has encouraged him to equivocate on the recent government bailout of AIG.
“This morning, I laid out my plan to solve these problems and grow our economy,” McCain said of his policy speech this morning. “About the same time Sen. Obama said that he isn’t going to offer a plan. We’ve seen him play this game before my friends. As a state senator, when he was a state senator a short time ago he voted present over a hundred times on difficult issues. My friends, Senator Obama may not realize it, but you don’t get to vote present when you’re president of the United States of America.”
