Toiler in the vineyard

Edward DeMarco, like Clark Kent, works almost anonymously to solve a massive mortgage loan crisis, but doesn't inspire a grateful nation's thanks;

The man with power over more than half of U.S. mortgages lives in a 1961 brick split-level house. There’s a basketball hoop in the driveway and a green Subaru Outback in the carport. The homes on Edward DeMarco’s block are so close that neighbors see into each other’s windows.

This surprised several dozen demonstrators, one in a vampire costume, who arrived at DeMarco’s residence in a middle-class D.C. suburb last month to demand he quit his job as acting director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA).

“My home is better looking than this,” said Catrese Tucker, a Massachusetts toll collector whose property is in foreclosure. “I don’t believe this is his home.”

DeMarco's job is to oversee the dismantling of the two gigantic agencies that are largely responsible for the financial mess the country finds itself in, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.  And he intends to do it with minimal cost to the U.S. taxpayer.

According to the bespectacled economist (U of Maryland Phd);

“Mortgage-backed securities are critical elements in the investments of our retired citizens that have bond portfolios and are relying on that as a source of income,” 

No doubt why he keeps resisting the pressures from politicians to allow more people to be forgiven their mortgage debts.  Which include Treasury Sec'y Tim Geithner, according to this Bloomberg News story.  He has attracted the right enemies;

...calls for Obama to replace DeMarco came from a diverse group that included members of Congress, New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, the United Steelworkers Union and even the Sierra Club, the pro-environment lobby.

Activists emblazoned the words “Fire this Man” on posters below an unflattering close-up of DeMarco, his eyebrows raised and mouth open.

And last month, they held a pizza party on the front lawn of the home where he and his wife, Garland, an accountant, raised their four children, delivering an oversized pink slip to the mailbox.

Thanks, Superman.