McCain Will Not Fix Foreclosure Crisis
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Tags: Barack Obama,
Hillary Clinton,
John McCain,
President Bush,
foreclosure,
Nevada,
lender,
Washington Post,
Barney Frank,
Chris Dodd,
housing bill Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have been outspoken critics of John McCain's foreclosure remedies on their respective campaign trails, saying that Sen. McCain would be lackadaisical in his approach to correct the market, regulate banks, and help troubled borrowers. This afternoon, those sentiments continued to be heard from the Obama camp as Sen. Obama told a crowd of over a hundred homeowners his plans to help fight the foreclosure crisis.
His opinions ranged from support of both Barney Frank's and Chris Dodd's housing bills, to pleading to lenders and asking them to make a better effort in negotiating new loans with borrowers. Here are excerpts of Obama's speech from earlier today in Nevada (The Washington Post, 5/27/08):
"Nevada is being hit just about harder than any place in the country when it comes to people being able to stay in their homes," Obama said. According to figures compiled by the campaign, the Silver State's foreclosure rate is three-and-a-half times the national average, and one in 44 households in Las Vegas is facing foreclosure."
"Today, John McCain is having a different kind of meeting," Obama said during a town meeting at the College of Southern Nevada. "He's holding a fundraiser with George Bush behind closed doors in Arizona. No cameras. No reporters. And we all know why. Senator McCain doesn't want to be seen, hat-in-hand, with the President whose failed policies he promises to continue for another four years."
ON JOHN MCCAIN AND GEORGE W. BUSH:
"We've got a vicious circle," Obama said, pitching a package of measures aimed at stabilizing the housing market, so that banks and lenders feel they can loosen credit. Obama supports the measure co-sponsored by Sen. Chris Dodd and Rep. Barney Frank that would permit some homeowners to negotiate with lenders to convert existing mortgages to new, fixed-rate loans that will allow them to avoid foreclosure. He also suggested a new fund for low income housing, and changes in bankruptcy laws that now favor those wealthy enough to have second homes."
"If the government can bail out investment banks on Wall Street," he said, in another swipe at Bush, it should help working people who signed mortgages promoted by lenders "out to make a quick buck."
In other words, as McCain goes behind closed-doors with President Bush, who currently stands as having the highest disapproval rating in the history of the United States, and tries to garner more campaign money from dubious sources, Sens. Obama and Clinton are continuing to try and find common ground in order to help the people who have been affected most by the mortgage crisis: middle- and working-class Americans, who will make their opinions loud and clear when they vote this coming November.