Earlier this week, her campaign spokesman, Howard Wolfson, said she was unable to take part in the 2005 opposition because Bill Clinton had just had heart surgery and "she was dealing with his health issues." Obama spokeswoman Jen Psaki countered that "she still hasn't articulated why she supported it the first time."
Now, however, Clinton is an unabashed supporter of aid for threatened homeowners. In Kenosha, Wis. last week, while speaking during a forum at the Brat Stop, a local restaurant, the New York senator was approached by 11-year-old Jade Bailey, who told her: "We're losing our home."
Clinton led the young girl and her mother, Donna, up to a small stage. There she listened as Donna Bailey, a 42-year-old hairdresser, explained how her family has scrounged for money to pay an adjustable-rate mortgage whose payment recently doubled. A foreclosure notice arrived last week.
Clinton's solution is a 90-day moratorium for foreclosures on sub-prime occupied homes, and a five-year rate freeze on sub-prime adjustable rate mortgages. The Bush administration has already responded with a 30-day cooling period on foreclosures; Clinton and her aides insist a longer freeze is essential for stabilizing a precarious situation for homeowners.
But according to some economists and officials grappling with the crisis, her proposal, which also offers a $30-billion foreclosure fund that is triple the size of Obama's, might only prolong the agony for homeowners.
"A 90-day freeze is fine for what it is, but what happens on the 91st day?" Rokakis asked. "Why not a year? Or longer?"
In San Antonio on Tuesday, Obama said that Clinton's foreclosure freeze was potentially "disastrous," rewarding "people who made this problem worse" by benefiting banks that profit from high mortgage rates.
A "blanket freeze," Obama added, might "drive rates through the roof for those trying to buy or refinance. Experts say the value of homes will fall even more, and even more families could face foreclosure."
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stephen.braun@latimes.com
nicholas.riccardi@latimes.com
maria.laganga@latimes.com
Riccardi reported from Hidalgo, La Ganga from San Antonio and Braun from Washington.
