Obama Proposes Mortgage Relief, With Romney in Mind

By MARK LANDLER

FALLS CHURCH, Va. — Drawing ever-clearer lines between himself and his leading Republican challenger, President Obama on Wednesday promoted a new proposal to help burdened homeowners, casting it as an alternative to those who contend that the nation’s housing market must bottom out before homeowners can expect relief.

The person who made that bottoming-out argument? Mitt Romney, whose strong victory in the Florida primary on Tuesday reinforced the belief of Mr. Obama’s advisors that he will be the Republican nominee.

“It is wrong for anybody to suggest that the only option for struggling, responsible homeowners is to sit and wait for the housing market to hit bottom,” Mr. Obama said to applause at a community center here. “I refuse to accept that, and so do the American people.”

Housing values in this affluent suburb of Washington have plummeted by a quarter, the president said. More than half of all homeowners in Las Vegas, he added, were underwater on their mortgages, meaning that what they owe is more than their house is worth.

Mr. Obama’s reference to Las Vegas hardly seemed accidental. In October, Mr. Romney told the editorial board of the Las Vegas Journal-Review that he believed the housing market needed to bottom out. Nevada, which will hold its Republican presidential caucuses on Saturday, has been hit harder by foreclosures than any other state.

The president did not mention Mr. Romney by name in his speech, which was not a campaign event. But a day earlier, Mr. Romney named Mr. Obama plenty, turning his victory speech in Florida into a sweeping indictment of the president’s leadership.

In the last few weeks, speeches by Mr. Obama and Mr. Romney have become almost an exercise in point-counterpoint, as Mr. Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, has sought to look ahead to a general-election showdown with the president, and Mr. Obama has sought to frame the choice between him and his most probable opponent.

The housing market gave the president an opening to hammer his theme of economic fairness for the middle class, which he said had been victimized by unscrupulous banks and mortgage brokers.

“This housing crisis struck right at the heart of what it means to be middle class in America: our homes,” he said. “The places where we invest our nest eggs, places where we raise our family, places where we plant roots in our communities, the places where we build memories.”

“We need to do everything in our power to repair the damage and make responsible families whole again,” Mr. Obama told an enthusiastic crowd of about 400 in a gymnasium.

The housing plan, parts of which require Congressional legislation, aims to make it easier for homeowners to refinance their mortgages, by streamlining the financing process and clearing the way for people with underwater mortgages to obtain new mortgages.

Mr. Romney argues that the answer to the woes in the housing market is not government intervention, but rolling back burdensome regulations, which would make the United States more attractive for business, generate jobs and lead to a new era of prosperity.

Mr. Obama, he charged, was hostile to entrepreneurship, steering the United States to a model of European socialism that caused persistent unemployment and depressed home values.

“Americans have seen more job losses and more home foreclosures than under any president in modern history,” he said. “In the last 10 days, I met a father who was terrified that this would be the last night his family would sleep in the only home his son has ever known.”

On Wednesday, Mr. Romney insisted that his goal, like Mr. Obama’s, was to lift the middle class. Speaking to CNN, he added: “I’m not concerned about the very poor. We have a safety net there. If it needs repair, I’ll fix it. I’m not concerned about the very rich. They’re doing just fine. I’m concerned about the very heart of America, the 90-95 percent of Americans who right now are struggling.”

Even if he does not mention Mr. Romney, Mr. Obama has lost few chances to take jabs at his policies. Visiting the Washington Auto Show on Tuesday, Mr. Obama inspected new hybrid vehicles from Ford, Dodge and General Motors, and reminded spectators of his administration’s role in bailing out two of the Big Three carmakers.

“It’s good to remember the fact that there were some folks who were willing to let this industry die,” the president declared. “Because of folks coming together, we are now back in a place where we can compete with any car company in the world.”

And who was it who argued that the government ought to let the carmakers fail? Mitt Romney.