"This move has diminished what has been an ideological divide between us," said Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), chairman of the House Financial Services Committee. "The administration's view was that the market alone would take care of these problems, and our view was that we needed increased institutional participation in the near term."

Instead, the president embraced the ideas put forward by Democratic lawmakers, including Frank, Sen. Christopher J. Dodd of Connecticut and Sen. Charles E. Schumer of New York. "These are not his usual tennis partners," [Jared Bernstein] said. "This is a moment of rare bipartisanship."

"Right now, the FHA is the only game in town," [Kurt Pfotenhauer] said. "But that does not solve everyone's problems in the mortgage industry. A lot of people have lost their homes because they lost their jobs and the value of their home is devalued and they don't have the income to pay any loan."