Campaign '08: Housing Ideas Highlight Clinton-Obama Economic Divide
During his final swing through Ohio before the state's primary tomorrow, Sen. Barack Obama has ramped up his attacks on predatory lending while muting his criticism of rival Sen. Hillary Clinton's proposal to freeze interest rates for five years on adjustable-rate mortgages.</br></br>Sen. Obama's approach underscores the tricky balancing act he faces: He has staked out a centrist position on the foreclosure crisis while he courts the voters in Ohio who have been hit hard by the foreclosure crisis.</br></br>Sen. Clinton advocates a more interventionist approach that promises immediate action. The New York senator's plan would freeze foreclosures for 90 days to allow lenders to work out problems with borrowers, and she wants the loan-rate freeze for certain mortgages. David Axelrod, an Obama campaign strategist, has acknowledged the "political resonance" of the Clinton plan, particularly in cities like Cleveland, which has the sixth-highest foreclosure rate in the country. But the Obama campaign has criticized the Clinton proposal as one that would dry up credit and exacerbate the current economic pain.</br></br>While Sen. Obama supports a foreclosure freeze, the Illinois senator hasn't made it an explicit part of his economic proposal. During a town hall in the Cleveland suburb of Parma Heights on Saturday, he suggested that the Bush administration's agreement last week with major lenders to freeze some foreclosures for 30 days was insufficient. "We should give them the time that they need," he said.</br></br>The candidates disagree sharply on whether interest rates should be frozen on adjustable-rate mortgages. While many of the adjustable-rate mortgages will reset this year, before a new president is sworn in, their stances spotlight more fundamental differences about how each candidate might approach the economy.