Obama erred in dropping Elizabeth Warren to head agency

[somone]

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-lazarus-20110719,0,2277465.column

Obama erred in dropping Elizabeth Warren to head agency
He sacrificed his top pick to run the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau after Republican lawmakers said they wouldn't support her nomination. But his second choice may face a battle as well.
By David Lazarus

President Obama shouldn't have backed down.

In announcing Monday that he's nominating former Ohio Atty. Gen. Richard Cordray to run the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Obama clearly hoped to leapfrog over opposition to his original pick: Harvard professor Elizabeth Warren.

Warren had drawn fire from the financial-services industry and its friends in the Republican Party for her passionate and unyielding commitment to consumer protection. They rightly perceived her as someone who would no longer accept banks' business as usual as business as usual.

It's been increasingly clear in recent weeks that Warren, while unquestionably the best person for the job, wouldn't be nominated for the agency's top spot. Republican lawmakers declared that they wouldn't accept her under any circumstances...

[BlueCaliDem]

1. Here we go again...Obama this. Obama that. The L.A. Times is quickly

losing credibility as a hard-hitting paper. It's become just another corporate tabloid rag.

Then again, after their extensive love-fest with Schwarzenegger during the Recall, without doing their job investigating his second, but commonwealth wife and out-of-wedlock child, while perpetuating the lie that the manipulated energy black outs were Gray Davis' fault, I've long given up on them, or take everything they write with a pound of salt.

[Demeter]

2. They only say that because it's true

I no longer believe a word out of his mouth.

[dennis4868]

4. we are total opposites....

I believe EVERY word out of his mouth...he's never let me feel otherwise...thank goodness he did not pick Warren....even she said it would be wrong to do that with the political environment we are in and Warren is extremely happy with the nominee he ended up choosing!

[eilen]

25. So is that why he hung her out to dry at that Congressional bashing? nt

[roxiejules]

16. Rahm, Geithner and Daley didn't want her - per Huff Po

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/18/republican-opposition-to-elizabeth-warren_n_902165.html


The internal debate that led to President Barack Obama passing her over as head of the agency, commonly known as the CFPB, pitted one set of advisers -- longtime confidantes Valerie Jarrett and David Axelrod -- against the trio of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, and current Chief of Staff William Daley.

Jarrett and Axelrod supported Warren, not least because of the impact she’d have on the Democratic Party’s liberal base, sources said. Geithner, Emanuel and Daley opposed the idea because of a variety of factors, both personal and political. Ultimately, it was Obama’s call. Sources said an anecdote about a 2010 meeting provides clues to Obama’s thinking.

Last summer, during a White House meeting with first-term Senate Democrats, Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont, asked Obama whether he'd nominate Warren for the role. Obama held up a half-full glass of water and told him: "That's the problem with you progressives. You see this as half-empty."

Emanuel took the temperature of the administration on Warren's nomination and reported back to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid that it was cool, according to Senate sources with knowledge of the call. “We don’t like her either,” the then-White House chief of staff told the Nevada Democrat.

[DJ13]

3. President Obama shouldn't have backed down.

This seems to be a running theme since he was sworn in.

[dennis4868]

6. Many dems...

told him not to fight for HCR at this time and he did, many dems did not think it was the right time to fight for the repeal of DADT, and he did not listen...he does what he feels is right!

[RyanPsych]

10. Except that Warren suggested the man Obama nominated

I'm all for criticism of Obama when its due- but in this case- she didn't seem all that interested in the position, and even made the suggestion for who should run the agency...which Obama listened to.

I think Warren would have been a great leader in that agency- but I'll be content with a man she handpicked.

[Mojorabbit]

13. Apparently she said she did want the position on Rachael"s show tonite. nt

[roxiejules]

14. She didn't say that

"I want to be clear, the reason I cannot run this agency is because of those people. They've made it perfectly clear they will not let the agency go forward if I'm there, fine. I can step away from this."


- from Rachel Maddow transcript

[Mojorabbit]

20. You interpret this to mean she did not desire the position? nt

[Fearless]

21. Backed down? That would imply he actually wanted her.

[eilen]

26. Well, he wanted her quiet and not on tv criticizing WH policy

toward the banks. Nice little gilded pen he put in. She is released and hopefully recovering from Stockholm syndrome after that drubbing she received from Congress with no cover given by the big boys.

[rocktivity]

5. Not if she's planning to get Kennedy's seat back from the Republicans...

:think:
rocktivty

[dennis4868]

7. remember....

here at DU everything Obama does is viewed in a negative light...you aint going to get anywhere with these 24/7 irrational Obama haters...

[aquart]

8. "Irrational"?

If you feel that criticism is inappropriate in a democracy, perhaps you really aren't happy with that form of government.

[dennis4868]

9. criticism is....

fine...IRRATIONAL CRITICISM is crazy!

[Fearless]

22. If he appointed a non-corporate, pro-union anyone to anything we would be happy.

[eilen]

27. Why in the world would she want to be part of a

broken organization owned by the banks?

[elleng]

11. He didn't 'drop' her, they recognized trying to get her through

would be a huge roadblock. Evenso, the sick repugs will fight any nominee; they don't want clarity/truth in borrowing available to the public, and will fight anything the Agency does.

I also think its good that the nominee has been a 'bureaucrat,' that is, he knows how to run agencies as he's done it in Ohio; Warren has been a teacher, as she says. She will always be a resource for him and the Agency.

[hay rick]

12. A little gallows humor from the article...

"This new agency is one of Obama's signature achievements. If he was to stand up to his opponents on any issue, this is it."

Big if.

[roxiejules]

15. Seems like it makes it a win for the GOP

when a much admired woman who has worked steadfastly for consumers is treated like crap and run out of town by GOP bullies. Especially when the Dem talking points are "Oh, she didn't want the job" or "She has a husband".

Where was the push back? Did you hear her talking on Maddow tonight about the HUGE effort of reaching out to our military members who are being preyed upon by foreclosure proceeding irregularities and credit card companies....despite the fact that it is illegal?

What a perfect PR opportunity.....


"GOP ATTACKS WARREN AS SHE AND HOLLY PETRAEUS ATTEMPT TO PROTECT THE RIGHTS OF MILITARY FAMILIES FROM PREDATORY LENDERS AND FORECLOSURE MILLS"

[eilen]

28. If Obama truly respected her, why wouldn't he have announced this

decision before the GOP bash fest?

[Politicalboi]

17. So this is how it goes?

They're going to be mean to me or us if I take the job? Fuck that. I can't believe we are cowering once again to these bullies. Those who don't do the job should get fired. Do a recess appointment Labor Day, and make them Eat Their PEAS!

[mazzarro]

18. "That's the problem with you progressives. You see this as half-empty."

I have an on-going declining regard for President Obama as he seems to be having for "progressives". The way he uses that word indicates to me that he does not consider himself to have any connection to progressives and we - the progressives - might as well drop off the face of the earth as far he is concerned and that won't bother him a bit.

[noiretextatique]

23. agreed

vote for me...then STFU!

[roxiejules]

24. Agreed

It is very clear that we do not matter.

[BiggJawn]

19. The only person the ReTHUGs wouldn't stonewall is Grover Norquist... n/t

[provis99]

29. the Cordray nomination looks D.O.A.

the Republicans want Raj Date, Geithner's lackey.

[oldhippydude]

30. what about

a recess appointment of the new guy?

[w4rma]

31. Obama *always* backs down. It's is reason for being. (nt)