I’m curious to know why you think Dubya never requested any alteration in the Community Reinvestment Act while he was President. Why he supported the American Dream Downpayment Initiative that provided “free” downpayments to minority homebuyers, a program that added rocket fuel to the housing bubble.
The only reforms of Fannie and Freddie that he asked for was concerning their capital ratio and sheer size. The reforms that he advocated never addressed subprime lending, non-conforming lending, or the massive subprime lending going on in the shadow banking system.
One version is that Karl Rove was behind all of this - he told Bush that the best way to win the hearts of more low-income "minority" voters was to build up his "compassionate conservative" reputation by continuing to prop up Fannie and Freddie's subprime lending program.
This wasn't the worst part of Bush's Presidency, however. The worst came when the subprime chickens came home to roost, and Bush worked with Barney Frank to launch TARP and bail out investment firms who lost money in the debacle with taxpayer dollars.
That’s a good question, and I’m not sure. I know that he, and shockingly, even McCain, called out Fannie and Freddie with some good points. They were never able to get anything done, but they did understand the problem.
Then, for whatever reason, Bush was not willing - and McCain was not able in the 08 campaign - to tie these liberals and their policies to the economic crash. It was so effen infuriating.