Judgment & Leadership: Barack Obama Quotes from the Mortgage Crisis (Bumped & Updated)

Barack Obama, 9/3/07: "Subprime lending started off as a good idea -- helping Americans buy homes who previously couldn't afford to."

And, based upon current events, still can't afford to.

Barack Obama, 9/23/08: "If they [Congress] need me, they’ll call me."

Barack Obama, 9/24/08: "I believe that we should continue to have the debate... It's going to be part of the president's job to deal with more than one thing at once."

Note: In asking to delay the debate, McCain said: "It has become clear that no consensus has developed to support the administration's proposal... I do not believe that the plan on the table will pass as it currently stands, and we are running out of time."

Barack Obama, 9/30/08: After offering only "tepid" support for the bailout bill, and after his most ardent backers voted against the bailout, Obama bravely took a stand: "...now is the moment for us to come together and put the fire out."

Courage!

Barack Obama, 9/30/08: ""There will be time to punish those who set this fire, but now is the moment for us to come together and put the fire out."

Note: Democratic Congressional leaders calmly took the helm and led the country out of this debilitating crisis.

Senator Majority Harry Reid: "No one knows what to do."

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi: "...the costs of the Bush Administration's failed economic policies-policies built on budgetary recklessness, on an anything goes mentality, with no regulation, no supervision, and no discipline in the system... we must act now, with the bipartisan spirit of cooperation which allowed us to fashion this legislation..."