Warren Balloon Deflates
I don’t even know what to say about this:
The decision, which Mr. Obama is to announce this week, would allow Ms. Warren, a Harvard law professor, to effectively run the new agency without having to go through a potentially contentious confirmation battle in the Senate. The creation of the bureau is a centerpiece of the Wall Street financial overhaul that Mr. Obama signed in July.
Ms. Warren will be named an assistant to the president, a designation that is held by senior White House staff members, including Rahm Emanuel, the chief of staff. She will also be a special adviser to the Treasury secretary, Timothy F. Geithner, and report jointly to Mr. Obama and Mr. Geithner. The financial regulation law delegated to the Treasury Department the powers of the bureau until a permanent director was appointed and confirmed by the Senate to a five-year term.
The decision does not preclude the possibility that Ms. Warren could eventually be named director, and at the least, she would play a pivotal role in deciding whom to appoint to the job, according to the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity so as not to pre-empt the formal announcement.
In other words, they’re not giving her the job liberals have hoped she’d be appointed to. Could it get anymore lame than that? Why not just dress her up in a dollar bill costume with a sherlock holmes hat and a magnifying glass, and name her the official mascot of the CFPB, if they’re not going to give her the actual job? Warren resigned from Harvard for THIS, an “unofficial” job setting up, but not really leading, the agency she pretty much invented?
Via Susie, I think this guy nails it:
ndeed, if Obama was looking for a way to define exactly what’s wrong with his presidency, he may have done it with this back-door, not-quite-an-appointment. Neither Obama’s supporters nor opponents will be satisfied with this move — just as neither were happy with the healthcare bill or bank reform. It feels weak.
If Obama was hoping to spur enthusiasm among the Democratic base that would get voters to the polls, this is not the way to do it. Instead of inspiring cheers, this news is sure to hit with a dull thud.
This is weak tea, but I can almost predict the way the president’s defenders will trumpet this: “it’s the best we could do”; “don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good”; and my favorite, “progressives are crybabies because they didn’t get everything they want.” BAH.
Well, I’m disappointed, but it COULD be worse. I could be gay, and the administration’s record there isn’t a half measure at all: it’s a big fat fucking ZERO.
