John McCain, Speaking in Orange County, Shows He Has No Plan to Help California Families Hit by the Mortgage Crisis

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

On the same day one leading indicator showed home values dropping 11 percent in January compared to one year before, Republican nominee-in-waiting John McCain today gave a speech in Santa Ana addressing the housing crisis. By failing to offer any new proposals to help California's families and communities struggling in the wake of the crisis, McCain's speech fell far short of what Californians are looking for. <> <>While McCain clearly thought the speech demonstrated that he understands the housing crisis, it instead showed that just as he can't tell the difference between Sunni and Shiite Muslims, McCain just doesn't understand the complexities of the issue. In his remarks McCain also failed to address the larger issues communities and cities are facing in the wake of the crisis, showing just how out of touch he is with the challenges facing California’s families and communities. <> <>McCain even tried to minimize the impact of the crisis and blame it on speculators and Americans who "bought homes they couldn't afford," and asked "how could 4 million mortgages cause this much trouble for us all?" In fact, 4 million mortgages accounts for more that the entire 3,002,048 population of Orange County, where McCain gave the speech, and roughly two-thirds the entire population of his home state of Arizona.  And the housing crisis is felt particularly hard in California -- in the fourth quarter of 2007 alone, nearly 400,000 families in California were delinquent on their mortgages.There's more...