RickyD, the Clinton supporter from Brooklyn, adds more fuel to the fire by asking (And I promise we will run responses) :

Is Obama good for blacks?

When it comes to the sub-prime mortgage crisis, he isn’t…
When all is said and done, the “race” issue was always a canard, but Obama’s people played the victim very effectively.

The issue, before the much-hyped but substance free race wars of South Carolina was NOT “Will Obama be marginalized as a black candidate because of his victory here with black voters” but rather, “Will Obama win enough black votes to show that he can carry the African-American wing of the Democratic Party.”

Sen. Obama needed a victory in South Carolina. By playing the victim, his surrogates fired up black voters who then saw support for Sen. Obama as a matter of pride, as a gesture of solidarity.

Sen. Obama spent a lot of time deflecting charges that he admired Ronald Reagan or the Republican Party’s ideas (these too were twisted into being some kind of biased smarmy attack on him)

Yet, as demonstrated by his lukewarm response to the sub-prime mortgage crisis, Obama is as “white-shoe” (there I said it) as the Repubicans (okay, Republican Lite) on an issue of extraordinary urgency to the well being of millions of lower income Americans, inclduing a very hefty number of African-American families – families who bought their own homes and finally saw themselves on the path of the American Dream.

While Clinton and Edwards both suggest ways of helping homeowners keep their houses through a freeze on foreclosures and restructuring debt, Obama is far to the right of them, offering little more than rhetoric.

Max Fraser ran a must-read article in The Nation pointing out that Obama’s policies fall more than a little short of matching his populist message.

By playing the victim, Obama’s people have tapped a swell of support his policies alone would not have brought him.

I’m delighted to see, in today’s New York Times that Caroline Kennedy finds Sen Obama inspiring. Since Ms Kennedy is unlikely facing financial ruin or foreclosure, she can afford the luxury.

Americans don’t need to be “inspired” to vote Democratic this year – their shrinking liquidity is inspiration enough. What they do need is a plan, and someone aggressive enough to kick a few doors down and get it done.

I am not a young man and I have had my fill of fancy speeches about “hope”.

As they used to say at West Point: “HOPE IS NOT A PLAN”

UPDATE: More on how the subprime crisis is affecting African-American homeowners from AFP here

To see where a candidate stands on the issues, visit Issue 2008