As President Obama decides whom to appoint to lead the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a controversy is on its way about whether Elizabeth Warren -- the Harvard professor who currently is in charge of oversight of TARP, and who had the idea for the CFPB in the first place -- will get the nod. Liberals, who have been impressed with Warren's dogged advocacy on consumers' behalf, are getting geared up to be seriously pissed off at the administration if they appoint someone else.
If you were a cynic, you might say that of course the White House will pick someone else, thereby offering a new opportunity to stick it to the left (and there's also the fact that Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner apparently doesn't like Warren, as Tim has discussed). But whatever the thinking at 1600 Pennsylvania is at the moment, Sen. Chris Dodd, the chairman of the Financial Services Committee, is expressing doubts that Warren is confirmable, meaning he thinks Republicans will be united in filibustering her should she be nominated.
It isn't as though the other potential nominees are shills for the banks. The two other names that have been floated are Eugene Kimmelman, who used to be with Consumers Union, and Michael Barr, a law professor and assistant secretary in the Treasury Department who is known as a thorn in the banks' side. Nevertheless, Warren is the star candidate, not just because this whole thing was her idea but also because of her high profile. Among the many things she has in her favor is that she's an extremely effective public advocate -- smart yet plain-spoken, passionate yet down-to-earth, and unusually candid in a city full of talking-point-spewing robots.
All of which is to say, perhaps this is a nomination fight the Obama administration ought to embrace, not only on the merits of having Warren serve in the position but because it would enable them to make the argument they've been trying to make all along, which is that they're the ones who want to get tough with Wall Street, while Republicans are the ones who don't. And a significant public debate about Warren would serve to educate the public about what a good thing the CFPB is.
If Warren is nominated, they can easily -- and rightly -- argue that Republicans oppose her because everyone knows she'll stand up for consumers. We saw just yesterday that when Obama wants to, he can stick it to Republicans for being on the side of the wealthy and powerful. It does seem that this is a narrative the White House and congressional Democrats want to push as we head toward November. So let them oppose Warren -- in the end, they'll be able to get a Maine senator or two to vote to end the filibuster, they'll get the best person to lead the agency, and it would be a political victory for the White House.
If they have the guts, that is. We'll see.
-- Paul Waldman
