Barack Obama went to New York Thursday and blamed lobbyists, greedy businessmen and complacent Washington politicians for creating “an ethic of greed” that led to today’s foreclosure crisis.

Not long after he left the stage, the Democratic presidential hopeful attended a fundraiser held by his campaign in a room in the Manhattan headquarters of Credit Suisse, one of the major investment companies caught up in the subprime lending mess.

Hillary Rodham Clinton’s campaign pounced on the mixed images evoked by Obama’s New York schedule.

"According to the standard set by the Obama campaign, it looks like Sen. Obama will have a hard time cracking down on the practices that caused the credit and housing crises," said Phil Singer, the Clinton campaign spokesman.

In truth, all of the candidates have made multiple trips to New York’s financial district — including the big investment firms now caught up in the mortgage meltdown — to collect cash for their campaigns in the past two years.