Interesting

This is from a NY Times article from 1999. It explains that the whole housing crisis goes back farther than most people want to mention.

~Fannie Mae, the nation's biggest underwriter of home mortgages, has been under increasing pressure from the Clinton Administration to expand mortgage loans among low and moderate income people and felt pressure from stock holders to maintain its phenomenal growth in profits.~

~In moving, even tentatively, into this new area of lending, Fannie Mae is taking on significantly more risk, which may not pose any difficulties during flush economic times. But the government-subsidized corporation may run into trouble in an economic downturn, prompting a government rescue similar to that of the savings and loan industry in the 1980's.~

The whole article is here

I'm not implying that blame falls squarely on the democrats, more that both parties are equally to blame.