The Warren Retort

[babylonsister]

http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=the_warren_retort

The Warren Retort

The story behind Elizabeth Warren's new job -- and what it means for progressives.

Tim Fernholz | September 17, 2010 | web only


Months of agonizing, days of rumors, and plenty of consternation come to an end today with the appointment of Elizabeth Warren, a Harvard law professor and government watchdog, to a new joint position at the Treasury and the White House. She will be tasked with jump-starting the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), a newly created financial regulator that is in many ways her brainchild.

snip//

The silver lining, however, is that Warren's new job makes her the most influential progressive policy adviser in the president's inner circle. While Clinton administration veterans like Geithner, National Economic Council Director Larry Summers, and Budget Director Jack Lew have consistently pushed for liberal economic policies, progressives will consider Warren's full-throated populism a welcome change in the White House -- and perhaps a political boon to the Democrats, who face serious problems in the midterm elections thanks to the disappointment of their activist base.

"There should never be a doubt about the point of any government action: It should always be to help families directly or help markets in ways that help families," Warren told me last December. While obstruction in the Senate has prevented her from formalizing her leadership of the CFPB, it's clear that she and President Obama both believe this is the most effective way to help. And even if she is scheduled to leave as early as next spring, Obama may get used to her advice and ask her to stick around a bit longer. Few observers expected much from Warren's tenure on the congressional oversight panel -- just another blue-ribbon panel -- or that the CFPB would become a reality -- the banks always win. Don't count her out here, either.

[Cha]

1. I never counted them out..

It more than nice to see the reality unfolding as we type~:fistbump:

[impik]

2. She might stick around Obama for a long time. They love each other

[Cha]

3. I saw him

kissing her:loveya: :D

[druidity33]

4. i think

she should run for Sen Kennedy's seat in 2012 (refusing to call it Scott Brown's)...

after she's created and staffed a kickass CFPB, of course.


:)