Republican Nightmare: Putting Consumer Advocate Elizabeth Warren to Work Now

President Obama is finally looking for bold, creative and clever ways to change the way the US economy operates — preferably with measures that will take effect by the November midterms and change the tone of the broader political debate. His tax proposals this week have some symbolic value, but in the broader sense all of these fiscal suggestions are tinkering at the margins.

What could he possibly do that would grab people’s attention, mobilize his political base and put his opponents on the defensive? There is an easy answer: Appoint Elizabeth Warren to start running the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) immediately.

And the brilliant part of this idea — as explained by Shahien Nasiripour at the Huffington Post (see also David Dayen’s Thursday coverage) — is that the Dodd-Frank financial reform legislation allows the person charged with setting up this new agency to be an outright appointment, rather than a nomination subject to Senate confirmation.

Warren’s credentials are impeccable — she came up with the original idea for the CFPB, she pushed effectively for it to become legislation and she has proved most effective in her oversight role as chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel (COP) for the Troubled Asset Relief Program. And her manifesto for the CFPB is sensible and actually pro-business — although she naturally opposes the specific ways in which big banks mistreat people.

No doubt Republicans in the Senate would try to derail her nomination to head the CFPB as they have done with numerous other nominations over the past year and a half. Their motivation would not be her views or expertise — she has earned serious Republican respect as a result of her COP role — but just part of their electoral strategy to block the president’s agenda and to undermine an agency they have consistently opposed.

The Treasury Secretary is explicitly authorized by an Act of Congress to pick an interim head for the new agency — with a view to getting it up and running immediately (in fact, what has he been waiting for?). Presumably the Senate (and the House) passed this specific measure expressly to expedite the CFPB’s work.

Professor Warren has strong political support and would get the new agency off to a great start. She would represent the Obama administration’s serious attempt to rein in financial misbehavior, at the same time as keeping the economic recovery on track. Anyone who thinks she would be bad for American families has not been paying close attention. And best of all, she is very good at explaining what she is doing and why that makes sense.

The president needs clearer messages and stronger substance — and he needs them fast. He should move at once to appoint Elizabeth Warren.