if george bush and tony snow were trying to reform fannie and freddie, why did they pressure them to take on more risky mortgages to low income families for over five years? if they knew fannie and freddie were at risk from their ballooning portfolios, why did george bush call upon fannie and freddie to issue half a trillion dollars of mortgages to low income homebuyers?

i took a look at that list and noticed that it had very little to do with the subprime crisis which would have occurred anyway even if bush had achieved 100% of his objectives on that list...when fannie and freddie broke down, they were responsible for issuing less than 20% of the risky mortgages behind the crisis, and that was after years of george bush bullying them to catch up to the private sector in issuing risky mortgages...here is the real record of bush and his administration leading up to the subprime crisis:


january 2002: state of the union speech, george bush promises "broader home ownership, especially among minorities"
President Delivers State of the Union Address


june 2002: george bush announces plans to expand home ownership among low income families by 5.5 million, and "increase by at least $440 billion, the financial commitment made by the government sponsored enterprises involved in the secondary mortgage market, specifically targeted toward the minority market" DESPITE the fact that "overall homeownership rate has reached an all time high of nearly 68 percent"
Fact Sheet: President Bush Calls for Expanding Opportunities to Homeownership


june 2002: credit unions respond positively to george bush's "America's Homeownership Challenge" to issue more mortgages to low income buyers
Dollar urges CUs to play a prominent role in Bush's "America's Homeownership Challenge" - Credit Union Times


october 2002; george bush hosts conference on minority home ownership with top financial institutions:
President Hosts Conference on Minority Homeownership
YouTube - economic crisis president bush mortgage speech


in 2004, george bush seeks to increase home ownership rates by eliminating downpayment requirements for mortgages, targetting "first-time buyers with somewhat impaired credit":
USATODAY.com - Bush seeks to increase minority homeownership


september 2004: george bush announces plans to expand 'affordable' home ownership by 7 million with a series of policies targetting towards low income buyers:
Increasing Affordable Housing and Expanding Homeownership


april 2005, george bush's former neighbour and personal friend, HUD secretary alphonzo jackson, partners up with bush's treasury secretary to announce the bush administration's position that freddie and fannie need to catch up to the private sector in issuing mortgages to low income and minority customers:
HUD Testimony - Statement of HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson, before the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services, 4/13/05


february 2006: bush administration 2007 budget reforms FHA to support low income home buyers "The President's proposed budget is a real investment in building a society based on ownership"
HUD News Release 06-013