James Johnson Finds His Exit

Pushed or pulled, it doesn't matter. James Johnson is gone as one of three people charged with being on Barack Obama's VP selection committee.

"Jim did not want to distract in any way from the very important task of gathering information about my vice presidential nominee, so he has made a decision to step aside that I accept," Obama said in a statement. "We have a very good selection process underway, and I am confident that it will produce a number of highly qualified candidates for me to choose from in the weeks ahead. I remain grateful to Jim for his service and his efforts in this process."

This runs counter to what Obama was saying just yesterday since he claimed that Johnson's efforts were tangentially related to the Obama campaign and the process to become President.

All this comes after reports showed just how intertwined James Johnson was in the whole subprime mortgage mess and how he received favorable terms on deals with Countrywide as Fannie Mae CEO.

And just to show just how out of tune some folks are, Sen. John Kerry had to go and offer up his support for Johnson and Obama's selection committee choices. Excellent timing.