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Current DateTime: 05:57:35 05 Sep 2008
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By Greg Levine Features Editor | 31 Aug 2007 | 06:04 PM ET
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President Bush outlined reforms on Friday aimed at helping subprime mortgage borrowers. This marks the administration's first public response to the subprime housing crisis since the problem began gathering in February.

Here are the latest video reports with Bush's speech -- and analysis from CNBC.

'Lose/Lose' Vs. 'Extremely Positive'

Greg Valliere chief political strategist at Stanford Washington Research Group, called Bush's strategy a "pretty modest proposal."

"Diana [Olick] got it right" in her critique, Valliere said. "It's lose/lose for the president."

He said "right-wing ideologues" are angry that Bush "even hinted" at a bailout. Yet, the strategist believes, Bush also failed "to get ahead" of Democratic presidential candidates like Sen. Christopher Dodd and Sen. Hilary Clinton, who offered their own solutions to the mortgage loan mess.

Andrew Busch of BMO Capital Markets disagreed, pointing to the "extremely positive reaction" from the stock market: the Dow closed up 119.01 Friday.

"How long has it been since we've seen a president go on the air and the stock market go up after he was done?", Busch asked rhetorically.

The President's Speech

"The government has a role to play, but it is limited. ...A federal bailout of lenders would only encourage a recurrence of the problem," Bush said.

The president vowed to work with Congress in order to reform the tax code in ways that would help troubled homeowners restructure their loans. Bush also pressed Congress to enact legislation that would enable the Federal Housing Administration to help borrowers with subprime mortgages.

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