The NYT does a decent job of explaining McCain's mortgage proposal from last night:
The Obama camp is correct that the new $700 billion bailout of the financial system gives the Treasury the authority to buy troubled mortgages. But the law leaves unclear how the authority is to be used, according to a person who was privy to the recent legislative negotiations between the White House and Congress and who is not affiliated with either campaign.
The mortgage renewal idea actually originated with Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, said Charlie Black, a senior adviser to Mr. McCain. And Mrs. Clinton, who proposed the idea in a recent newspaper column, borrowed it from a Depression-era New Deal agency, the Home Owner's Loan Corporation.
As Mr. McCain's campaign described his program, it would be available to mortgagors for whom the property is their primary residence, who can prove they were creditworthy when the original loan was made and who made a down payment.
So I gather from this that last week's bailout gave Treasury the authority but not necessarily the obligation to negotiate directly with homeowners, while McCain's/Hillary's proposal would oblige Treasury to do so. I guess that sounds mostly all right to me, but if it sounds all right to me, it probably doesn't sound so good to, say, Newt Gingrich.
