An Outrage - Keep Reading

Arthur Delaney: arthur@huffingtonpost.com | Reporter, First Posted: 10-28-10 04:10 PM, Updated: 10-28-10 05:15 PM

OBAMA: MORE AGGRESSIVE ANTI-FORECLOSURE EFFORTS WOULD HELP PEOPLE WHO DON’T DESERVE IT.

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama defended his administration’s beleaguered foreclosure-prevention initiatives on Wednesday by arguing that more aggressive steps to assist homeowners might help people who don’t deserve to be helped.

DAVID: Excuse me? Are you the guy I voted for, the guy I donated money to, the guy I told my Hillary supporting friends to consider?

HUFF PO: Asked if his administration had done enough to stem the foreclosure crisis, Obama opted not to address the foreclosure fraud scandal that has forced banks to temporarily halt home repossessions across the country. Instead, he claimed that the government’s efforts had stabilized the housing market, and argued that the “biggest challenge” was to make sure speculators and deadbeats didn’t take advantage of the government’s help.

DAVID: So, Mr. President, the banks that were bailed out, the CEO’s you saved and who received huge bonuses, there were no “speculators” among them?

Wait, there’s more.

HUFF PO: “The biggest challenge is how do you make sure that you are helping those who really deserve help and if they get some temporary help can get back on their feet, make their payments and move forward and stay in their home versus either people who are speculators, own second homes that they really couldn’t afford because they’d gotten a subprime loan, and people who through no fault of their own just can’t afford their house anymore because of the change in housing values or their incomes don’t support it,” Obama said during a roundtable discussion with a handful of progressive bloggers at the White House.

“And we’re always trying to find that sweet spot to use as much of the money that we have available to us to help those who can be helped, without wasting that money on folks who don’t deserve help,” he continued. “And that’s a tough balance to strike.”

DAVID: Mr. President, I don’t remember you asking the CEOs and COOs and CFOs and all the other Os if they “deserved help” when you bailed out the banks. The bonuses that the Os received, the ones your administration said it couldn’t stop must be the “sweet spot” you were looking for.

You are crushing the middle class between your fingers like a bug, Mr. President. I don’t understand why politicians like you think that’s a good idea. But mostly I wonder why it doesn’t bother you.

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