Monday evening I had the privilege to attend a meeting held in New York City for a small group of progressive bloggers by former President Clinton, ostensibly about the work of the Clinton Global Initiative.

But on the eve of the CGI conference, the former President used most of the hour-long meeting to discuss our current economic crisis, calling for a broader, more comprehensive federal response than what has so far been proposed by Bush administration officials.

Clinton pressed several times for progressives to use their leverage to demand more populist assistance and accountability in a larger crisis response - including a moratorium on foreclosures and the creation of a modern-day Home Owners' Loan Corporation, the Depression-era government agency that refinanced mortgages to prevent foreclosure.

To their credit, Clinton said, Paulson and Bernanke have done "about what they were supposed to do." But the current administration proposal doesn't do enough "to deal with the range of 'main street' issues" facing Americans, Clinton said.

Clinton also relayed a story from his wife's recent trip campaigning on behalf of Mitch McConnell challenger Bruce Lunsford: Hillary reported that in Kentucky, people "don't yet see it as a big crisis requiring an urgent response, because they've been in trouble for years."

And while the goal of such measures couldn't be to rescue all mortgage-holders, the former President stressed that keeping many people in their homes would cost society much less than foreclosing.

Besides the protections to safeguard current homeowners, Clinton also echoed calls from Congressional Democrats to add accountability to the huge sum taxpayers would likely invest in the bailout. Lastly, Clinton said the government's response should work to "clean up future risks."

But with President Bush warning Congress that "the whole world is watching to see if we can act quickly" I asked Clinton if there was time to accomplish all this before the crisis ripples further.

Initial efforts to shore-up Wall Street shouldn't be delayed unnecessarily, Clinton told us, but in the long run the government's response must be comprehensive. Clinton even floated the idea of calling a special session of Congress to accomplish such a task.

"We need a plan to do all of it," he said, "otherwise it won't work."