Monday, November 23, 2009

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Washington Whispers by Paul Bedard

Insiders: Bernanke Pick a Sign of Obama's Weakness

August 31, 2009 02:31 PM ET | Paul Bedard | Permanent Link | Print

By Paul Bedard, Washington Whispers

While reappointing Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke seemed like an obvious move to many in Washington's political and financial establishment, to others it was a sign of political weakness for President Obama. The reason: If Obama were still at the top of his game, he might have nominated brainy but abrasive aide Larry Summers. Insiders say that Bernanke, a Bush pick, is too independent. Plus, Obama would like his own Fed chief but has been too politically weakened by the healthcare debate to fight for Summers.

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Tags: Barack Obama | Ben Bernanke | Larry Summers

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Reader Comments

Bernanke Pick.

Well,not by any measure could Bernanke's pick, have been a wrong pick for Obama. Consistency and diligency couple with prudency spells out good and sound Finacial planning and execussion.In a crises such as ours in the USA, we should be careful to be superfulous, rather let us face the fact. Bernanke has been doing what it takes to stabilize the economy and that is the optimal objective of the current administration, under President Obama. Stop unnecessary sentiments and face the fact, stop looking for the irrelivant matters to justify a need that need not be. Good job Mr president and good Job Mr Bernanke.

Clear the Deck

IMHO one of the major short comings of the Obama Administration has been his use of retreads from previous Administrations. The U. S. put themselves in this financial position, and then Obama puts the people tasked with overseeing the fiasco in charge?

This holds true through out the Obama Administration. Clinton as Secretary of State? How many of 100's of millions will Mr. Bill be able to exploit out of that?

Obama really needs to clear the deck like Reagan did and bring in outside experts from industry. The current people are status quo.

Insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly expecting different results.

Independent?!

The idea of Bernanke being "independent" is ludicrous. When Bernanke and Paulson jointly testified before Congress last year I couldn't avoid the impression that Paulson was the organ grinder and Bernanke his monkey. In financial matters the U.S. Establishment has become a joke.

It no more would matter who Obama appointed as Fed Chairman than it mattered whether Obama or McCain won the Presidential election. They all work for Wall Street.

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