COMMENTARY | President Barack Obama has finally decided the economy needs his attention and, suddenly, there appears to be two things he can do about it without congressional approval.
According to a Reuters report, Obama will propose restructuring mortgages and offering help with a new student loan program. It's interesting how after two back-to-back defeats last week in the Senate, the president suddenly isn't so focused on his jobs bill and has now discovered two new ways help Americans without requiring so much as an okie-dokie from Congress.
Bloomberg reported that more than 1 million homes were lost to foreclosure in 2010. If Obama had the presidential power to modify foreclosure terms by restructuring mortgages, this should have been implemented at the start of his term to save millions of Americans from losing the largest asset they own. Why is it the only now -- during a campaign swing through must-win western states -- that the president has discovered this existing authority?
The White House has not disclosed the terms of Obama's student loan program, so we'll have to wait for one of his campaign speeches to hear about that. I'm glad someone is finally thinking about the people going to college these days. America is losing its edge in the world, and we've got to do everything possible to support not just higher education, but also technical and vocational schools.
His attempt to protect nearly 400,000 teaching jobs failed twice in the Senate last week, mainly because the bill threw too much money at a targeted sector of the workforce -- voters and resembled too closely to another targeted stimulus bill. Maybe if there was a little less campaign rhetoric and a little more focus on governing, the president may have discovered his "powers" years ago.
The two initiatives will be announced in Nevada and Colorado and coincide with campaign fundraisers along the way. That's convenient. I'm not exactly sure what the purpose of choosing those two particular states was: pick any one of the 50 states and you'll find housing and education problems.
Reuters reported the Federal Housing Finance Agency is looking at ways to help people switch to lower interest loans. FHFA is an executive branch agency and should have been looking at those options when the housing crisis started.
Main Street America needs a lot less campaigning and a lot more leadership. But, it looks like we'll have to wait until 2012 to get that.
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