Back toward the end of May, when Barack Obama tapped Democratic èminence grise Jim Johnson to help him select a running mate, there was some dissension in the ranks from those who saw Johnson as a representative of the kind of old-style politics for which Obama claimed to be the antidote. (Johnson's role in helming the same process for presidential nominees John Kerry and Walter Mondale—neither exactly what you'd call a success—was also remarked upon.) Still, the candidate refused to comment.

In the last few days, however, it emerged that Johnson "took at least five real estate loans totaling more than $7 million from Countrywide Financial Corp. through an informal program for friends of the company's CEO, Angelo Mozilo." (Countrywide, you'll recall, was a driving force behind the subprime mortgage mess, and Mozilo is now a recognized symbol of evil.) Naturally, this caused an outcry on the left, the right, and the right that likes to pretend it's left.

So Obama did what Obama does in these situations: he cut the cord. It wasn't as quick as the Samantha Power situation, but it wasn't as slow as the Rev. Jeremiah Wright affair either. We'd all better hope that if he's elected Obama is as smart as they say he is; given the baggage which everyone in politics carries, by the end of his first term will have likely jettisoned his entire cabinet, forcing him to do all of the jobs by himself.