Who Really Done it?

Barack Obama has been barnstorming the country trying to prevent the onrushing electoral tsunami due to swamp his party on November 2nd when an angry electorate exacts their revenge against a president and Democratic party they believe betrayed them.

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Incredibly, despite clear evidence to the contrary, he insists on blaming the Bush administration for the full responsibility for the current economic turndown. That’s an outright deception and he knows it. Given the real facts about just who got the recession ball rolling that takes a hell of a lot of chutzpah – Obama knows full well who bears the real responsibility - most of the real blame falls upon the shoulders of two of Obama’s top Democratic allies on the Hill – Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-Conn) and Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass). It was these two far left members of the Congress who lit the fuse that set off the recession bomb that all but leveled the economy, and them alone. Along with Obama, they have done everything to conceal their roles in the political disaster, making it clear that their top priority is to hide the truth of their roles in the politically-driven management and corrupt oversight of giant mortgage lenders, the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) and the Federal Home Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac). Says Judicial Watch’s president Thomas Fitton: “The failed Washington oversight, political corruption and personal greed at ‘Fanny Mae’ and ‘Freddy Mac’ helped cause the financial crisis that’s creating so much distress for American families today.” Fitton recalls that as far back as September 30, 1999, the New York Times let the cat out of the bag by reporting that: "Fannie Mae, the nation's biggest underwriter of home mortgages, has been under increasing pressure from the Clinton Administration to expand mortgage loans among low and moderate income people and felt pressure from its stock holders to maintain its phenomenal growth in profits." The article went on to predict this strategy would run Fannie Mae into serious financial difficulty during an economic downturn. Says Fitton “You can’t say that we were not forewarned!” For more than 16 years reformers in Congress sought to improve oversight of Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac and prevent them from putting both the housing market and the entire economy at risk. Barney Frank was involved in frantic efforts to block these measures. In 2002, not long before accounting irregularities were exposed at both Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac, according to Wall Street Journal Rep. Frank said “I do not regard Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac as problems” And after the accounting scandal at Freddy Mac he said “I do not think we are facing any kind of crisis.” Despite the fact that there was a real and present crisis, Barney Frank along with others made sure that there would be no additional oversight, no additional limit on executive behavior and compensation, and no further restraint on the growth of the two companies. Egged on by Fannie and Freddie, banks began making tens of thousands of "subprime" loans to individuals who under prudent lending rules never would have qualified for them. As the Washington Post noted in a December 9, 2008, story: “The new products included home loans made to people with blemished credit histories, called subprime loans, and mortgages made without verification of income, assets or employment.... The loans required borrowers to state their incomes and assets, but not prove them.’" Despite both their accounting problems and warnings of crisis, Fannie and Freddie, with the full support of liberals in Congress pushed for even more subprime lending. At the same time, Fannie and Freddie contributed lavishly to the politicians who chaired or had senior positions on the committees that had oversight responsibility for their institutions. Fannie Mae alone contributed to the campaigns of 354 congressmen and senators, from both parties! Among the top four recipients of money from Fannie Mae in order of cash magnitude were, surprise! Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-CT), the Chairman of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee; Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL), a member of the Federal Financial Management Committee; Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, and none other than Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA), Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee. Concludes Fitton, “The main objective of the crooks running Fannie and Freddie was to make sure that no one in Washington would hold them to account, and they succeeded! Now, our country is facing a financial disaster, Sen. Dodd, and Rep. Frank continue to be among the ones mainly responsible for "oversight" at Fannie and Freddie, while Sen. Obama is now in the White House blaming the Bush Administration for the misdeeds of Dodd, Barney Frank and their cohorts! That’s the plain unvarnished truth, Mr. President. Try Telling it for a change.