Consumer Advocate Elizabeth Warren Meets With Obama
Elizabeth Warren, whom the left is aggressively pushing to be named to head the new consumer protection agency, met with President Obama on Tuesday, the Associated Press reports. The meeting is fueling speculation that the Harvard law professor will be tapped for to lead the agency.
Warren's potential nomination has ruffled some feathers: A favorite of many on the left (how many professors get their own rap videos?), she is seen by unions and consumer groups as one of the few people who has consistently fought for consumer financial protection.
The big banks and Wall Street, however, have been battling Warren for years, and they do not want to see the forceful and sometimes-undiplomatic advocate take over the agency. Known as the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection, it was created as part of the regulatory reform bill passed earlier this year. (Warren herself was one of the primary figures behind its creation.)
The White House has said only that Warren is among the candidates being considered, and Mr. Obama notably declined to strongly back herin a July interview, though he did call her "a wonderful voice making a very simple point, which is, if you've got a set of rules and standards in place to make sure your toaster doesn't blow up in your face, you should have some rules and regulations to make sure your credit card or mortgage doesn't blow up in your face."
There are two headaches for the White House in selecting Warren. One is further angering a business community that has become increasingly disenchanted with the president, thanks to both his policies and his rhetoric. (Mr. Obama memorably once went after "fat cat bankers on Wall Street.") The other is the possibility of a distracting confirmation fight in the Senate, which seems likely in light of the apparent strong opposition to the pick among many Senate Republicans.
Not picking Warren, however, would demoralize a Democratic base that is itself less-than-enthusiastic about the president and his party ahead of the midterm elections. That could translate into further diminished Democratic voter enthusiasm, the last thing Congressional Democrats want as they try to hold the House and Senate.
The Consumer Financial Protection Agency's powers will include regulating credit cards and other financial products, including mortgages. Other candidates for the top job, according to the AP, include assistant treasury secretary Michael Barr and Eugene Kimmelman, a deputy assistant attorney general in the Justice Department's antitrust division.
