The last time I was this angry I was sitting in front of the TV in my bathrobe and slippers, watching the confirmation hearing for Clarence Thomas and listening to Senators interrogating Anita Hill as if she were a criminal. I vividly remember kicking a slipper off and throwing it at the TV. Why am I angry today? Now the powerful and the pundits have their eye on making sure the respected visionary Elizabeth Warren is kept in her place. Enough is enough!
Three years ago Professor Warren was clear in issuing warnings about the financial risks associated with sub-prime and no-doc mortgages and the shell games that were being masked as risk-free investments. She told us what would happen and it did. Isn't this insight worth something?
Professor Warren didn't limit herself to warnings, she laid out the foundation of what, with Congressional approval, is now the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Isn't this kind of creative thinking worth something?
The Wall Street bankers who got the benefits of a massive government bailout weren't able to kill the CFPB and they certainly don't like Warren. Some say she's ruffled feathers. The good old boy network of investors is uncomfortable around her. Is this because she is a woman in a male-dominated "sport," or is it that she's an advocate for middle-class families who sees nothing amusing about winning and losing with people's life savings?
Elizabeth Warren's detractors view her as a risky regulatory investment. She might do too much. They are essentially arguing that she needs Wall Street grooming, more time in the clubrooms, at least those that allow women. Frankly it is time to slam the door on the profiteers. Let them ramble on while we finally get some sane regulatory protections working for the men and women by calling on the President to put Elizabeth Warren in charge.
John R. Talbott: The Real Reason Geithner Is Afraid of Elizabeth Warren
Elizabeth Warren is a threat to the scheme Tim Geithner has utilized to date to hide bank losses, thus keeping the banks solvent and out of bankruptcy court and their existing management teams employed and well-paid.
Amy Siskind: The Obama Old Boys Club -- Does the White House Economic Team Have a Woman Problem?
It's time for President Obama to knock the door off of the boys' club and let the girls into his inner economic circle, especially on economic matters. We can hardly afford to lose another immensely qualified woman.
Marshall Auerback: The Trouble With Tim's Treasury
One of the major impacts of the FinReg bill passed last week by Congress is the accretion of new power to Obama's Treasury Secretary. Geithner stands to inherit vast power to shape bank regulations.
Robert Kuttner: The Warren Drama: Another Missed Opportunity?
The best possible antidote to the perception that the Administration has favored Wall Street over Main Street would be the appointment of Elizabeth Warren.
On the one hand, I would like to see Warren appointed to that post, but on the other perhaps she will be muzzled by those above her (the SEC has not been the greatest friend of the consumer). In some ways, it may will be better to have her on the outside of the tent pi$$ing in.
There's no other public person who's as well-respected and trusted -- I would even say by both sides of the voting political spectrum -- because she's honest, unelected and virtually apolitical. She's not been bought and probably can't be. This administration won't have a better opportunity to appoint a true, competent, broadly populist person who is only opposed by BigBusiness interests.
Geithner may have problems with her appointment, but who cares? The majority of Americans have a big problem with his appointment and subsequent actions, as well as his actions before appointment. We know whose side he's on.
Elizabeth Warren hasn't suggested any radical anti-business policies, only tweaks to restore and insure a basic level of consumer protections. She's not interested in crippling commerce for the sake of some hidden ideological agenda and I've no doubt she'd lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which was created at her suggestion, wisely and with fairness to consumers and business.
President Obama, for once just do the right thing!
That desire to find the last honest public servant hasn't been killed by my own creeping cynicism; at least not yet. Elizabeth Warren is one of the few people who gets through those filters anymore.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/26/us/politics/26scotus.html
I don't think there's any hope that Elizabeth Warren will be appointed. Each day seems to bring a new disappointment. At one time I was full of hope for a change for the better.
I don't think there is any hope for Elizabeth Warren's appointment either.
I too have lost all hope for positive change.
To me, the public option was strike one, and Dawn Johnsen was strike two. If Warren is not appointed, that will be strike three.
I'm not an idiot -- I will still vote for Democrats. (Consider the alternatives). But failure to appoint Warren will certainly mean the end of my enthusiasm for this administration.