This post has been edited for clarity.
John McCain has made a really big deal about Obama's associations with Fannie Mae, accusing Obama of being "square in the middle" of Washington's "culture of lobbying and influence peddling." Of course, with 83 lobbyists on his campaign with ties to the finance industry running his campaign, no one would appear to be at the center of a "culture of lobbying and influence" more than John McCain.
McCain overstated Obama's ties to Fannie and Freddie when making his original claim. But since then, The New York Times quoted a former employee at Fannie who said that McCain's campaign manager Rick Davis' lobbying firm was hired because of Davis' "closeness to Senator McCain and the possibility that Senator McCain was going to run for president again." Then, yesterday, Bloomberg reported that the man in charge of McCain's presidential transition team, William Timmons Sr., had been registered to lobby on behalf of Freddie Mac right up until this month.
But wait, there's more! Roll Call reported yesterday that Davis Manafort, Rick Davis' lobbying firm, is still getting money from Freddie Mac, while a Times story reports that payment ended last month. No one knows what the firm is being paid for because all lobbying activity was supposed to have stopped as a result of the federal takeover. Previous reporting by the Times has suggested that Davis' value to Freddie Mac was his closeness to McCain. According to Roll Call, the McCain campaign maintains that "while Davis still owns a partial stake in Davis Manafort, he does not receive income from the firm." But according to the Times, "Davis took a leave from Davis & Manafort for the duration of the campaign, but as a partner and equity-holder continues to share in its profits." Meanwhile, McCain himself told CNBC last Sunday that Davis has had "nothing to do" with Freddie Mac since 2005, which obviously isn't true.
While excoriating Obama, McCain attacking Obama's ties to Fannie Mae, said that "Senator Obama may be taking their advice and he may be taking their money, but in a McCain-Palin administration, there will be no seat for these people at the policy-making table." But McCain is taking advice from their former employees. His campaign staff has taken their money. And they won't need to ask for a seat at the policy table, because if McCain wins, they're moving in lock, stock and barrel.
It's true that Obama has raised slightly more money ($25 million) than McCain ($22 million) from the finance industry. But it's unclear to me how, given McCain's own strong ties to the two mortgage giants, he still seems to think mere association is enough to accuse his opponent of corruption. It's worse than hypocrisy, McCain simply sees himself as above the rules he demands that everyone else follow.
--A. Serwer
