Off the hook

Presidential candidates differ—but perhaps not enough—on foreclosure crisis policy | Mark Bergin

Early predictions that Iraq would serve as the defining issue of the 2008 presidential campaign have given way to a new focus on a slumping economy. At the center of that market dip, the housing crisis stands as the watershed indicator of the direction in which candidates will govern.

On one side, Democrats Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama castigate a corporate culture of greed for having triggered the foreclosure surge and excuse borrowers from culpability with promises of government-funded bailouts. On the other, Republican John McCain favors federal relief only for those borrowers victimized by fraudulent or deceitful lending practices.

Clinton and Obama likely hold the upper electoral hand with their position, providing security for voters wracked with uncertainty over their financial futures. Unlike his straight-talking clarity on Iraq, McCain's stands on the mortgage crisis play like Democrat lite—conservative only in their lack of boldness and creativity.