Obama is both stupid and lying on foreclosures

I don't know how else to explain his administration's mix of tone-deafness, cluelessness to the seriousness of the situation, and cluelessness to potential political capital.

First, in a number of ways, this is like the pre-bank bailout situation. And, more and more people are seeing the fraud, the big bank shadow and more looming in the background.

Plus, there's no excuse, not even the lying excuse of 2008, that nobody could have seen this coming.

So, for Obama mouthpiece David Axelrod to say a foreclosure moratorium is off the table is both stupid and idiotic.

Stupid because he knows better, he, like top bloggers, knows action is needed. Idiotic because you put down the shovel when you're already in a political hole - or you pick up a different tool when a new approach can be a winning one.

Already, the Wall Street types are pushing back against even basic elements of paper verification. So, is Obama's opposition to a moratorium motivated by campaign cash issues? We know that ultimately, folks like Goldman Sachs are behind CDO tranches behind this whole mess. And, G. Sachs took no bailout haircuts when AIG was made good 100 cents on the dollar.

At the same time, Obama can't punt, really, because the title insurance market runs on as tight a margin as did all the investment banks peddling CDO crap.

And, let's not forget the John Paulsons of the world who bet against those CDOs, and therefore have an interest in no moratorium.

Let's also note this type of fraud ain't exactly new.

Next, the idea of Bank of America self-insuring titles? Are state agencies going to accept and validate that? In many states, probably not. I'm no expert on the state-fragmented regulation of mortgages and related issues, but, at least in states that require court hearings for foreclosures, I don't think it's likely.

Beyond that, real estate financiers, by using computerization without any legal warrant, have brought this moment on themselves in other ways.

So, whether or not Obama is saying this shit for the darkest of neoliberal reasons, it sure looks that way. Or, option 2, it reinforces the idea that he's simply clueless.

As Andrew Leonard notes:

As Elizabeth Warren said in an interactive chat session broadcast at Whitehouse.gov while I was writing this post "the foreclosure problem is big and it is serious." Either she, or Obama, needs to make it clear to the general public just how serious it is and what the government plans to do. David Axelrod, obviously, is not the man for that job. Republican politicians are equally tongue-tied. For the most part, they've been remarkably quiet, aware that it is political suicide to defend the banks but ideologically opposed to any government intervention in favor of homeowners.

But time is short. Fumble this ball, and the game might be over.

Yep, that's about right.