I’m getting a lot of email thanking for linking to that City Journal piece. Here’s one reader’s reaction:

Just read that 2000 City Journal piece, and it’s quite intriguing.
I think most would agree that the housing collapse is driving this financial meltdown, and it’s quite possible that the low-income, “affordable housing” CRA shakedown fueled that collapse. Low-income housing has been a signature issue of Senator Obama’s career, and his ties to the shady Chicago machine absolutely require the same kind of scrutiny as, say, Ms. Palin’s pregnant daughter.
Now let’s summarize with campaign spin: left-wing activists (er, “community organizers”) extort trillions from our financial system to develop low-income housing (and fund political graft along the way), ultimately destabilizing our entire economy when the real estate bubble bursts. Obama has been involved in this scheme from the ground up, from securing funds in his community organizer days to doling them out as a Chicago legislator, along the way making connections with ACORN (whom he now uses as an arm of his campaign’s “get-out-the-vote” efforts, despite the groups troubling record of voter fraud), and Rezko (who made millions off of developing low-income housing, and just coincidentally was one of Obama’s biggest backers). This is not change I believe in.
McCain (and Bush, for that matter) were on the right side of this housing crises, while Obama was squarely in the mix helping to create it. Obviously the financial failure is much too big to lay at Obama’s feet, but the contrast between the candidates on this issue couldn’t be any more clear. McCain *has* to make this his primary message on the economy, and take away Obama’s last remaining perceived strength. If Obama is effectively linked to this market meltdown, game over.
-NR subscriber in Boston