President Obama is in full campaign mode. His latest plan is $5 to 10 billion to go to some homeowners but can't refinance because their homes are worth less than what they owe. It sounds good, but it's political theatre. The Repubs. won't back it so it has no chance of being enacted. The bottom line is if Obama really cared about homeowners in distress he'd have pushed for helping ALL early in his presidency. He didn't.

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President Obama speaking in Virginia yesterday.

Photo by Cliff Owen/Associated Press

It's presidential campaign season and though completely unopposed at this point, President Obama is in full campaign mode.

To wit, his latest gambit pushing for a $5 to 10 billion plan to help certain home owners, those currently keeping up on their monthly payments but whose mortgages are under water.

The proposal would affect 3.5 million homeowners with good credit, but can't refinance at today's low rates because their homes current value is less than what they owe.

His argument is these homeowners can't afford to let the housing market bottom out is a direct counter to Mitt Romney (his likely opponent next November) who remarked recently that the housing market needed to "hit the bottom" before it could recover.

So the president was clearly aiming a campaign jab solely at Romney intending to show their differences where he is squarely on the side of helping homeowners while Romney's remarks revealed he could care less about the homeowner's plight.

But really, it's all political theatre. The Republicans, particularly in the House, aren't about to endorse Obama's plan which was highlighted by House Speaker Boehner saying, "How many times have we done this? I don't know why anyone would think this next program would work." It has no chance of being enacted.

So Obama's plan is really dead in the water, but to borrow a phrase from ex-president, now wise man Bill Clinton, it shows Obama "feels your pain."

The bottom line is, if this president really cared about homeowners, he'd have pushed for helping ALL homeowners in distress way back in the first 100 days in his presidency in 2009.

Back then the sub-prime mortgage bubble had burst in 2008, millions were already being foreclosed upon, most couldn't get refinancing, their mortgages out valued by the homes current worth, people were walking away from their homes, many people were in bankruptcy court and judges weren't permitted to force mortgage holders to rework and refinance with homeowners i.e. reduce principal based on the current market value ("cramdown") which would have permitted people to remain in their homes.

Obama's supporting these types of real reform would have taken guts. It would have meant directly confronting intransigence on the right. It would have been politically risky. It would have meant taking on the big banks. And this was before the "robo signing" scandal that showed the big banks and other large mortgage holders were continuing to scam the system.

Where was Obama then? In fact where has he been BEFORE re-election mode became paramount and required him to "appear" he was on the side of the people?

So why so rough on Obama; because he raised expectations and didn't deliver; people trusted him; I trusted him. He raised hopes, then squandered it all by appeasing the right and his own "blue dog" Democrats on everything of consequence from health care reform, reform of the financial industry, mortgage foreclosure reforms to holding the Bush mob responsible for authorizing torture, expanding the wars to increasing the use of drones; the list goes on and on.

So maybe most Americans have short memories or ready to vote for the lesser of evils. But all this will do is continue, business as usual, regardless of who wins in November.

What it all comes down to is it's all a political charade, masquerading as real differences between the Republicans and the Democrats. But it's only a continuation of our plutocracy of oligarchs who have captured both parties and our representative democracy to do their bidding.

Authors Website: dglefc22733@aol.com

Authors Bio:
Retired. The author of "DECEIT AND EXCESS IN AMERICA, HOW THE MONEYED INTERESTS HAVE STOLEN AMERICA AND HOW WE CAN GET IT BACK", Authorhouse, 2009