Legal Commentary

April 2008: McCain On Helping Homeowners

By Big Tent Democrat

Not as new as you think - from April 2008:

McCain’s aides said his home mortgage plan could help 200,000 to 400,000 people and cost $3 billion to $10 billion. That would be far less than the proposals offered by Clinton and Obama, but McCain aides said it would be bigger than the efforts envisioned by the Bush administration. The plan would retire old loans that homeowners no longer can pay and replace them with less expensive, 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages that are federally guaranteed. McCain said families would gain “the opportunity to trade a burdensome mortgage for a manageable loan that reflects the market value of their home.”

Last night, McCain just added $290 billion to his April 2008 plan. Strangely enough, in april 2008, Barack Obama said it was too little and too late then. Today, he seems to think it might be too much, based on the reactions of his surrogates :

Obama criticized McCain’s plan while campaigning in Gary, Ind. Although he called the proposal “better late than never,” Obama added: “Sen. McCain’s solution to the housing crisis seems a lot like the George Bush solution of sitting by and hoping it passes while families face foreclosure and watch the value of their homes erode.”

Hillary Clinton, having already proposed a modern day HOLC, was more cutting in her April 2008 critique:

[Hillary Clinton] chided McCain on Thursday for pivoting from the more laissez-faire approach to the housing crisis he outlined during an appearance in Santa Ana two weeks ago. “Now he’s changed positions and is finally responding to a housing crisis that has been going on for months, but unfortunately his actions are only half-measures,” she said.

Well, now McCain has come around. Will Barack Obama?

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only

Full post as published by TalkLeft on October 08, 2008 (boomark / email).