Raines In Obama Parade

Ben Smith had this cute little piece out on 16 July of this year on the Raines - Obama connection.

An ill-timed -- for Obama -- profile of former Fannie Mae CEO Franklin Raines, forced out in an accounting mess a few years ago.

The Style Section piece reports that he's recently been taking "calls from Barack Obama's presidential campaign seeking his advice on mortgage and housing policy matters."

Taking calls? Doesn't that mean Obama has been calling him? The McCain Campaign hsd a nice video out on the connection between Obama and Raines. And there is another video out of Fannie Mae head Daniel Mudd praising Obama.

So who is Daniel Mudd? I think it will come as no surprise that he lives in a Mudd hut. A 22-room Mudd hut. Evidently ripping off the taxpayers pays very well. Very well indeed.

As more than a million US homeowners face devastating mortgage foreclosures, ousted Fannie Mae CEO Daniel Mudd continues to live in an opulent Washington, DC, mansion replete with expansive gardens, servants' quarters and a home theater.

Mudd, whose former company is being bailed out by billions in taxpayer dollars, calls home a 22-room Colonial mansion on Newark Street in tony Cleveland Park, built on the former property of President Grover Cleveland.

The eight-bedroom, eight-bath pad includes large public rooms with fireplaces, a home theater, a gym, a wine cellar, a solarium, servants' quarters, a terrace off the master-bedroom suite, and a gourmet kitchen.

The gated, landscaped property also features a pool, fountains, gardens and a guesthouse.

The property is so lavish that some company employees dubbed it "Mudd Manor."

And they're furious that the executive at the helm of the ship as it sank into profound crisis has surfaced relatively unscathed, at least for now.

"Hey, he lost his limo and corner suite [at the office], but Mudd Manor is not a bad place to contemplate your next move," said a bitter Fannie Mae employee who requested anonymity.

"Most Fannie Mae employees are reeling from their employee stock-option-plan account balances' going to cents on the dollar."

So the little people get fleeced and the big guys walk.

That Obama has some really swell friends.

Cross Posted at Classical Values