The Wall Street Journal’s John R. Emshwiller notices that Penny Pritzker — Barack Obama’s national campaign-finance chairwoman — helped run Hinsdale, IL-based subprime-mortgage lender Superior Bank to its collapse in 2001: Ms. Pritzker served as Superior chairman until 1994. During that period, Superior “embarked on a business strategy of significant growth into subprime home mortgages,” which were then packaged into securities and sold to investors, according to a 2002 report

The Wall Street Journal has a piece (nicely paraphrased at the New York Sun for non-subscribers to the WSJ ) on the ties between a prominent adviser to Barack Obama and the CEO of Countrywide Financial Corp., a company at the center of the subprime lending debacle: James Johnson, one of three people tapped by Mr. Obama recently to oversee the search for his running mate, took at least five

Shit. And right after I refinanced, too. Jim Pethokoukis: If Mark Zandi becomes the new regulator for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, it could potentially be one of the most significant economic events of President Obama’s second term. Unlike Ed DeMarco, the acting director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, Zandi, currently chief economist of Moody’s Analytics, favors the use of principal reduction by Fannie and Freddie to help some of America’s 6-7 million underwater borrowers

On the trail in Powder Springs today, Barack Obama responded to those — from Bob Herbert to Rich Lowry to Rick Ellensburg to just about everyone — who think he has been lurching rightward to pose as a centrist over the past couple of weeks: “Look, let me talk about the broader issue, this whole notion that I am shifting to the center,” he said. “The people who say this

One-time “consumer activist,” one-time election spoiler and fulltime nimrod Ralph Nader reportedly attacked Barack Obama in an interview with the Rocky Mountain News: “There’s only one thing different about Barack Obama when it comes to being a Democratic presidential candidate. He’s half African-American,” Nader said. “Whether that will make any difference, I don’t know. I haven’t heard him have a strong crackdown on economic exploitation in the ghettos. Payday loans, predatory lending, asbestos,

Need a Vice-Presidential selection in a hurry?  Introducing Barack Obama’s “volunteer” chief Veep vetter James Johnson! James Johnson got friendly loans from subprime lender Countrywide Financial Corp. – which Obama has frequently targeted for its lending practices and allegedly excessive CEO compensation.  At least four of the loans were issued while Johnson was employed either as the CEO or an outside consultant for Fannie Mae.  Multi-functional! But wait! There’s more! [L]ook at the Office of

HotAir’s Ed Morrissey seems gobsmacked over Barack Obama’s defense of chief Veep vetter James Johnson, who got a number of loans from subprime lender Countrywide Financial Corp. by being a “friend of Angelo” Mozilo — whose lavish bonuses Obama has bashed in his campaign speeches.  Specifically, Cap’n Ed is stunned that Obama would dismiss the issue by saying that Johnson is a “volunteer” who is “tangentially related” to Obama’s campaign. He should not be