Is Bush to blame?

In this week's Manhattan Free Press, publisher Jon Brake says:

For those who want to blame President George Bush for the market problems:
"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.
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."
NY Times Article: Sept. 30, 1999

The fact is that no President is responsible for the mess. It's been coming for a long time, and is exacerbated by pressures like the above from various Administrations, Congresses, and shareholders. Blaming George W. Bush (Or Bill Clinton, for that matter) is akin to blaming Herbert Hoover for the Great Depression. Many factors, the majority of which were out of his control, came together to cause the problem on his watch.

Still, there is a good reason why Harry Truman had a sign on his desk stating, "The buck stops here." We humans have a tendency to need someone onto which to pin ultimate blame. Bush will be blamed for this one, even though it's the product of many decades of bad policy-making from members of both parties.