After a couple days of controversy the head of Barack Obama’s Vice Presidential search committee Jim Johnson has resigned. For those not following Barack Obama has been making a major issue out of the number of lobbyists and corporate baddies Senator McCain has been surrounding himself with. The charge worked well against Sen. Clinton in the primary, so he went with it again McCain.

The problem is that Johnson was the former chief executive of mortgage Goliath Fannie Mae which is embroiled in the mortgage crisis and predatory lending that has ruined our economy and of course Sen. Obama has regularly spoken out against. Furthering the issue the Wall Street Journal wrote an article alleging Johnson was given preferential treatment on his own homes mortgage from Countrywide Financial, a loan provider Sen. Obama has heavily criticized. Complicating things even further the Washington Post now reports Johnson benefited from an earnings manipulation in 1998 which allowed the company’s executives to earn large bonuses, pocketing some 1.9 million dollars.

Obama said of the first Wall Street Journal article “I am not vetting my V.P. search committee for their mortgages,” and stood by Johnson. Today Johnson has resigned.

The old saying “don’t throw stones” is pretty applicable here. As Obama’s message of “change” has often come with few actual policy solutions toward lobbyists and those practicing corporate corruption the campaign has found itself several times now being surrounded by the very types of people he has attacked his opponents for associating with. The problem is that lobbyists along with those who earn a buck at the publics expense are a dime a dozen in Washington and pretty much all of local politics across the nation. So in short, it is hard to build a campaign, a government or an administration without them. It is easy to throw stones, much harder to build your own home on a solid foundation.

Official Statement from Johnson

I believe Barack Obama’s candidacy for President of the United States is the most exciting and important of my lifetime. I would not dream of being a party to distracting attention from that historic effort. Therefore, I have withdrawn from the VP selection process.

I am extremely proud of my service to Fannie Mae and in other important dimensions of public service. This withdrawal should in no way imply that I accept the blatantly false statements and misrepresentations that have been written about me in recent days