The problem with The New York Times‘ coverage of the financial crisis involving huge mortgage lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac isn’t so much what it reports as what it refuses to cover.

Implicit in The Times coverage are the following assumptions: 1. The crisis was caused by greedy bankers 2. Republicans, including Bush, fell asleep at the switch and failed to rein in Fannie and Freddie when the crisis could have been averted.

Here’s what The Times isn’t telling you:

• It was Jimmy Carter who first pushed Fannie and Freddie to lend to high-risk borrowers, to increase minority home ownership, pandering to one of the Democrats’ favorite constituencies, a policy followed by Bill Clinton.
• The Times actually admitted this in a September 30, 1999 story, which reported, “In a move that could help increase home ownership rates among minorities and low-income consumers, the Fannie Mae Corporation is easing the credit requirements on loans that it will purchase from banks and other lenders.”
• Carter and Clinton were abetted by some of the leftist Democrats now screaming loudest that it’s all the Republicans fault – including Cong. Barney Frank and Sen. Chris Dodd, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee.
• Since 2004, Republicans have tried to avert the crisis. They were thwarted at every turn by Congressional Democrats.
• Bill Clinton admitted as much when he observed, “Responsibility with the Democrats rests more in resisting any efforts by Republicans in Congress or by me when I was president to put some standards on and tighten up a little more on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.”
• Clinton’s Housing Secretary, Andrew Cuomo, also played a part in the fiasco, including letting Fannie and Freddie get into the sub-prime lending market – again to aid minority borrowers.
• Some of Barack Obama’s closest allies were key figures in pressuring Fannie Mae to make high-risk loans — they include Franklin Raines and Obama campaign advisor Jim Johnson.
• Obama himself is #2 on the list of campaign contributions from Fannie Mae executives. He’s received $126,349, second only to Banking Committee Chairman Dodd.

These are a few of the little things The Times forgot to tell you, while providing what passes for in-depth coverage in its pages.

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