Elizabeth Warren
For weeks government regulatory geeks have been waiting with baited breath to see whether President Obama would formally nominate Elizabeth Warren to be the first head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, sidestep the highly contentious nomination process and give her a limited recess appointment, or duck the conflict altogether and choose someone else. According to ABC’s Jake Tapper, the answer is … none of the above.
Tapper says Warren will be the — deep breath — Assistant to the President and Special Adviser to the Secretary of the Treasury on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Basically, she’ll be a White House adviser, reporting to both Obama and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, charged with setting up the new bureau. It remains to be seen exactly what this means. Salon’s Andrew Leonard sounds baffled over whether this pseudo-appointment would give Warren some actual power, or just make her one more adviser with no real authority.
Cue conservative carping on yet another czar and liberal griping about Obama’s ducking of political fights over their pet issues in 3 … 2 … 1 …
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This scheme is plain deception. Warren would be subordinate to one of her worst enemies, T. Geithner. Rather than this hypocritical scheme, why doesn’t Obama appoint her to the independent position, subject to Senate confirmation? Obama could them challenge Republicans to oppose her nomination -and let them pay at the polls for obstructing true bank reform.