Making news in the debate.
Bold promise or act of desperation?
John McCain proposed a bailout for at risk homeowners?
John McCain calls it the "American Homeownership Resurgence Plan" Tuesday night during the Nashville debate.
In his words, "as president of the United States, Allen, I would order the Secretary of Treasury to buy up the bad home loans and mortgages in America and
re-negotiate at the real value of those homes and let people make those
payments and stay in their homes. Is it expensive? Yes, but we all know
that until we stabilize home values, we are never going to turn around
and start creating jobs."
Price tag? $300 billion.
Source? Detailed, Camp McCain says, in the recent rescue plan passed by Congress.
Read the full proposal on the campaign website
here.
Remarkable because its a notion dismissed among many fellow conservatives. Surprising because McCain has not seemed a fan previously of big-ticket government bail outs. Perhaps an "I opposed them before I supported them" moment.
Here's background on McCain's bailout stance in this LATimes
story. Bob Drogin and Maura Reynolds quote McCain weeks back about an Obama proposal that included homeowner relief: "there is a tendency for liberals to seek big government programs that
sock it to American taxpayers while failing to solve the very real
problems we face."
More reaction Wednesday morning, where long-time Republican loyalist Marty Connors stalled in his tracks on Good Day Alabama.
Hesitance, when asked about the McCain plan, choosing to ask for more details.
Hesitance right after Obama supporter and Democratic State Representative Merika Coleman appeared to praise the idea.
Watch the full exchange
here.
And now to Team Obama's response: "it was ours before it was yours."
The independent watchdog Factcheck.org makes this observation:
"McCain...claimed the idea as his own: 'It's my proposal, it's not Sen. Obama's proposal, it's not President Bush's proposal.' But the idea isn't new. Obama had endorsed something similar two weeks earlier, and authority for the treasury secretary to grant such relief was included in the ... rescue package."
Read FactCheck's full breakdown of Nashville's debate claims
here.
Now a Thursday Update:Sen. Obama apparently opposes it after he "kinda" supported it. This is 360 politics.
If McCain seemed to fall in love with the mortgage notion for Tuesday's debate, the love is gone from Camp Obama. What started as a talking point of "me, too" from Obama staffers has now become full opposition.
On the campaign trail today, the AP reports Obama calls McCain's mortgage plan "ill advised."
Quoting from the AP story here: "Right now, the law lets bankruptcy judges write down your mortgage if you own six or seven homes," he said, "but not if you have only one. That might help Sen. McCain sleep easier at night, but it won't do anything for folks like you,"
Obama told supporters the plan "punishes taxpayers, rewards banks, and won't solve our housing crisis." Read more
here.
