Clinton unveils housing crisis plan

PHILADELPHIA – Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton sought on Monday to pitch herself as the remedy to the nation’s housing crisis, a claim that drew an aggressive pushback from Sen. Barack Obama’s campaign as the two candidates continued to wrestle for the upper hand on the issue of the economy.

The economy has overtaken Iraq in recent months as the dominant issue in the campaign, so Clinton and Obama have increasingly turned their attention to darkening forecasts about the nation’s financial health.

On Monday, 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 slow the credit crunch for most Americans.

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.

“Let’s be clear: When families are losing their homes, that’s also a financial crisis,” Clinton said. She spoke not far from where Obama last week delivered a rousing address on race. Her campaign was pleased with the juxtaposition in the hope that blue-collar voters will be swayed more by pocketbook matters than the loftier subject of social harmony.

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.