I don't think its a good idea but I think it's in the long run interest of the government/taxpayer to divest out of Fannie/Freddie. The current situation makes that impossible, so they'll have to take some kind of haircut. As the article discusses, one of the options is to screw over current investments (Ackman) and raise an IPO, although it would be impossible to raise enough to buy the government out at its current stake.

Of course the big caveat is that once private, the government needs to ensure another bailout is not possible.