By Travis Waldron/Think Progress
President Obama outlined three proposals to address America’s struggling housing market today in Nevada, the state with the nation’s second highest foreclosure rate. Ahead of the speech, presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney circulated a release hitting Obama’s housing record, including a graphic criticizing the president for roughly the 3 million foreclosures and a high unemployment rate that have occurred since he took office in 2009:
Romney’s criticism is odd, considering the candidate’s only elucidated housing proposal was telling homeowners, “Don’t try and stop the foreclosure process. Let it run its course and hit bottom.” That Romney said it in Nevada, a state that has been among the tops for foreclosures since the crisis, made his policy prescription even more remarkable — and it earned him strong rebukes from Nevada’s Republican governor and several of the state’s Republican lawmakers. And even though Romney’s economic plan had 59 points — none was related to housing.
The foreclosure crisis Romney blames on Obama, meanwhile, started well before he took office, culminating in the 2008 financial crisis that started the Great Recession. High unemployment — which Romney again blames on Obama — was largely a result of that crisis, and though Romney has continually slammed Obama for making the economy worse, he and his campaign have yet to substantiate those claims.
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