Under the Bus, Part 1

So Vice Presidential vetter Jim Johnson was the first to be thrown under the bus by the Obama campaign as it pivots toward the general election. Johnson, the consummate Washington insider, quit his volunteer role after non stop slagging by Republicans over sweetheart mortgage deals he got from the very toxic lender Countrywide Financial. He quit the day after Obama himself tried to downplay the controversy.

All of this should come as no surprise. Countrywide has, rightly or wrongly, been intimately associated with the current mortgage mess. And average Americans wish they could get a sweetheart mortgage just like Jim Johnson did. He should have stepped down, and he did. The incident, however, is instructive for other reasons.

For one, the Republicans found an opening, and wouldn't let go of it. Never mind that Dick Cheney was part of Bush's vetting process back in 2000, and found the best person for the VP job was....(trumpets please) himself! We all know how that turned out. Yet Obama stuck with Johnson for precisely one news cycle. When his campaign realized the story wasn't going away, Johnson did. The speed with which all this happened is an acknowledgment of a new political landscape in America.

No appointment will go without scrutiny. No opportunity to skewer the other side will be missed. And, most importantly, no one will be allowed to become a distraction from the goal of winning the White House.

That goes for Obama and McCain. We'll see who's next to get thrown under the bus.