Judgment to lead?

It's often said that among the most important qualities for a leader, the ability to surround oneself with good people is at or near the top of the list. If that's true, then Barack Obama is miserably failing his first tests of leadership.

Everyone's heard of Obama's little church problem, with Jeremiah Wright and Pfanatical Pfather Pfleger leading the headlines there. Then there's the radical from the Weather Underground, William Ayers, with whom Obama has associated professionally. And just yesterday, Obama's buddy Tony Rezko was convicted for being an all-around sleaze ball. Also yesterday, Obama announced his little troika to select a running mate.

Obama's veep committee consists of:

• Eric Holder, second to Janet Reno in Clinton's Justice Department, whose main contribution to "justice" was to push the Marc Rich pardon through at the end of Clinton's second term. The pardon made even most Democrats cringe.
• Jim Johnson, former CEO of Fannie Mae, the quasi-public housing finance company. Under Johnson, FNMA came under a cloud of suspicion over transparency of executive compensation. Johnson's published compensation was $2 million, while his actual compensation was around $21 million.
• Caroline Kennedy, daughter and only surviving child of John and Jackie Kennedy. Kennedy's the cleanest of the three, but as a writer and non-practicing attorney, I fail to see what qualifications she brings to the table other than her name.

See this link at Hot Air for Ed's assessment of Holder and Johnson and supporting data for Johnson's and Holder's misdeeds.

One can only hope that with the primaries done and Obama the presumptive Democratic nominee that the media will recover from its collective swoon and start paying attention to the quality of people with whom Obama surrounds himself.