Congratulations and Good Luck to Elizabeth Warren - Emptywheel

[WillyT]

Congratulations and Good Luck to Elizabeth Warren
By: emptywheel Friday September 17, 2010 8:37 am

<snip>

I’m cautiously optimistic with the dual appointment of Elizabeth Warren to be Assistant to the President to work at Treasury to set up the Consumer Financial Protection Board.

Frankly, no one knows what this appointment will mean in practice except perhaps Obama, Warren, and Timmeh Geithner. And no one knows how well Warren will negotiate the inevitable bureaucratic battles ahead, particularly with whoever replaces Rahm.

But I’m optimistic for two reasons. First, I have a lot of trust in Warren herself. She’s proven her ability to surprise her opponents in bureaucratic battles thus far. I also suspect (though don’t know for a fact) that she negotiated the Assistant to the President position as protection against anything Timmeh and Larry Summers might try. She seems to have demanded certain things with this nomination. And gotten them. And–as DDay linked earlier–she has expressed confidence that this is a win.

The President asked me, and I enthusiastically agreed, to serve as an Assistant to the President and Special Advisor to the Secretary of the Treasury on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. He has also asked me to take on the job to get the new CFPB started—right now. The President and I are committed to the same vision on CFPB, and I am confident that I will have the tools I need to get the job done.

So given the respect I have for Warren, I take her at her word that she will have the power to make of CFPB what it needs to be.

The other reason I’m cautiously optimistic is because the Chamber of Commerce is screaming like a stuck pig over these developments: http://www.twitlonger.com/show/635v9r Which, in my book, is generally a sign that something good has happened.

All that said, the appointment of Warren just means that both the White House and activists have more work to do. For the White House, not only do they need to fulfill whatever promises they made to Warren. Just as importantly, though, if they don’t actually use the fact that they finally have someone who can speak for and to the middle class (without the kind of gaffes that Joe Biden inevitably makes) to their advantage they will be really hurting themselves. Is Warren booked for the Sunday shows this weekend? If not, why not?

As for the rest of us, one of the reasons I think Warren was successful in negotiating what she sees as a successful resolution to this position is because her broad support was very clear to the White House. A wide group of people made it clear that Warren was the only acceptable candidate for this position.

If we get complacent, it’ll be a lot harder for Warren to do what she’d like to do with the position.

Progressives finally won something from this Administration. Maybe. But we’re only going to be able to keep it if we continue to make noise.

<snip>

Link: http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2010/09/17/congratulations-and-good-luck-to-elizabeth-warren/

:kick:

[Junkdrawer]

1. So the unreccs have started already....

I guess it's too negative to suggest that we continue to make noise so that Warren can get the edge in her inevitable bureaucratic ahead.

[ProSense]

2. WTH?

Frankly, no one knows what this appointment will mean in practice except perhaps Obama, Warren, and Timmeh Geithner. And no one knows how well Warren will negotiate the inevitable bureaucratic battles ahead, particularly with whoever replaces Rahm.

Really? It's that hard to understand that she's setting up the bureau?

"No one knows how well Warren will negotiate the inevitable bureaucratic battles ahead"?

I thought the reason for pushing Warren was that she was the best and toughest person for the job?

And what the hell does Rahm or his replacement have to do with anything? She reports directly to the President.

[WillyT]

6. Well... The President And Geithner...

Ms. Warren was named an assistant to the president, a designation that is held by senior White House advisers. She also will be a special adviser to the Treasury secretary, Timothy F. Geithner, and report jointly to him and the president.

While Mr. Geithner nodded vigorously in approval as he stood in the Rose Garden with Mr. Obama and Ms. Warren, his dealings with her have been the subject of much speculation. Ms. Warren, as the chairwoman of the Congressional panel that oversees the Troubled Asset Relief Program, has often been critical of Mr. Geithner and his department for the management of the financial rescue program. Privately, Mr. Geithner promoted Mr. Barr for the consumer post.

Under the financial regulation law, Treasury will have the powers delegated to the bureau until a permanent director is nominated and confirmed by the Senate to a five-year term. Next July the bureau will assume the regulatory power for consumer rights now vested in a range of agencies, including the Federal Reserve, the Federal Trade Commission, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Once a director is confirmed, the bureau can issue regulations and enforce new standards for mortgages, credit cards, payday loans and a wide array of other financial products.

Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/18/us/politics/18warren.html

And... the next chief of staff to the President, whoever that is, gets to determine who sees the president, and who does not. That said... I feel good about this so far.

:shrug:

And that really IS a change!

:hide::evilgrin::hide:

[mikelgb]

8. Simply: No one can tell the future. But we're optimistic.

[lunatica]

3. Finally, A ray of hope.

[gateley]

4. Heartiest congrats and gratitude that you're there for us! nt

[EmeraldCityGrl]

5. The very best to Elizabeth Warren. n/t

[rhett o rick]

7. Rec 11. Good for the president and great for Ms. Warren. This is great news. nm