Obama Aides Upset that Hillary Discusses Mortgage Crisis

by D. Cupples |   Given the staggering number of Americans who face mortgage foreclosure,  it's only natural that presidential candidates would address the issue.  Apparently, the Obama campaign doesn't think Hillary Clinton should speak about such things.  The Washington Post reports:

"On Monday, [Hillary' Clinton laid out a plan in Philadelphia aimed at slowing mounting foreclosures, renewing her call for greater lender transparency and for $30 billion in assistance for individual homeowners and communities to help most Americans through the credit crunch." 

"Clinton used a speech at the University of Pennsylvania to argue that the federal government should apply the same kind of resources to assist individuals as it did in bailing out investment giant Bear Stearns." (Washington Post)

In response, Obama campaign aides tried to crap all over Hillary's desire to pitch in and help resolve the mortgage crisis.  The Post states:

"Aides to Obama responded by saying Clinton was simply echoing proposals offered by their candidate and by accusing her of hypocrisy on the issue because she had accepted contributions from the mortgage lending industry. Obama has offered a $10 billion relief package."

Given how much wonderful press coverage Obama has received since January, would it have hurt to let Hillary get this teeny amount of positive press?

According to the New York Times, both Hillary and Obama have proposed solutions to the mortgage crisis over the last year.

And, frankly, it's hard to know if the Obama aides' claims are actually true, given that just yesterday the Washington Post pointed out three incidents where Sen. Obama had falsely claimed credit for other senators' legislative work.

Perhaps Obama's aides should focus less on Hillary and more on straightening out their own statements with respect to Obama's record.

Memeorandum has commentary.

Related BN-Politics Posts:

* Obama Took Credit for Others' Legislative Work, Media Ignored it

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* Is MSNBC Biased Toward Barack (or Against Hillary)?

* "New" Politics: Obama "Punching" & Pushing Hillary to Drop Out

* Campaign Uses Bush Tactics in Fundraising Email

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Comments

[Adam]

http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/2008/03/obamas-year-old-letter-to-bern.php

Draw your own conclusions. I think it's pretty clear that Obama has been on top of the subject for a while.

I agree that any effort by Obama's staff to marginalize Hillary's thoughts on the subject simply because of her association with the industry is silly. What is fair game is discussing whether her plan may be long on bailout money but soft on new regulations.

[D. Cupples]

Adam,

I'm not saying that I agree with Hillary's plan. Today was the first I'd heard of it.

I just don't get why the aides started getting nasty just because Hill was talking about the issue.

[Adam]

In that case, we're in complete agreement.