Republican support for Elizabeth Warren

Obama hasn't said whether he will or won't appoint Elizabeth Warren to head the consumer protection agency she designed and fought for. Geithner reportedly opposes her, although he has publicly praised her qualifications and said she is a candidate for the job.

There is a groundswell of support from progressives, liberals, and some conservatives. Today Charles Fried, former Solicitor General under Reagen, who also supported Roberts' and Alito's nominations to the Supreme Court -- so he's hardly a closet liberal -- not only supported her but advocated putting her in with a recess appointment. At least two other Republicans in congress have also voiced support.

Fried told the Boston Globe:

"Capitalism and markets depend on the morality, honesty, and good faith of those who participate in them. Markets function best and deliver prosperity when they are honest and the law enforces that honesty; dishonesty, fraud, and official corruption are the poisons that keep markets in many parts of the world from delivering the goods.

"That's where Elizabeth Warren comes in. Those who are lobbying hard against her nomination to head the Consumer Financial Protection [Bureau] are the same people who lobbied against financial reform legislation and lost. They paint her as the enemy of capitalism and free markets. Nothing could be further from the truth: She is the enemy of dishonesty, abuse, and just plain theft."

All of this seems to cast in doubt Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd's statement last week that her appointment would be met with a unified GOP opposition that would shut down the confirmation hearings. He was most opposed to a recess appointment, reasoning that this should be used only in emergencies, where filling a position is urgently needed.

He then went on to explain his concerns about a lengthy confirmation battle, because it would delay getting the new agency up and running and would make it more vulnerable to Republicans' attempt to repeal or kill it.

Questions to Mr. Dodd: doesn't your second point meet your criterion for recess appointments? Isn't this a position that is urgently needed to be filled. Do you have your own reasons for not wanting someone as effective as Elizabeth Warren in the job? Have your financial contributors given you enough money to influence your thinking on this matter?

Here's my hope: by not rushing to make a recess appointment -- at least not announcing it prior to the actual recess -- Obama is allowing the support for her to become a public demand. That will make it easier for him then to sway enough senators to make the appointment in the regular way -- and thereby he will be doing the right thing and also be seen as standing up to the financial industry. It will also put Warren in a stronger position to do the job she is capable of doing. But, if their vote-counting at the beginning of the recess doesn't add up to enough to win a confirmation battle after the recess, then he should make a recess appointment.

Ralph