we may need real leaders one day

Last week, I caught some of the grilling of Elizabeth Warren by GOP Congressmen during the House Oversight Reform Hearing. At one point, a Republican Congressmen asked Warren if she was “running a campaign” to convince people of the validity of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau she is in the midst of setting up. The two of them went back and forth, because she didn’t really understand the question. He was trying to peg her as overtly political, using government resources to travel the country and do advocacy. Suddenly, she got the nature of the question, and turned to him and said, pointedly, “I always try to convince people that I’m right.”

There was some laughter in the room, but she wasn’t kidding. Warren believes that consumer protection is necessary for a just society, and spends a great deal of time trying to persuade the public of the necessity and legitimacy of government. Imagine that – a public servant who thinks that communicating with and persuading the public of the merits of their ideas.

I’ve seen Warren in crowds before; they love her, they feel like finally, here’s a person who is stronger and smarter and better than the bankers. They crowd around her, tell her their stories, of bankruptcy, of joblessness, of sick kid or parent, as if to say “finally someone is listening”, someone who understands. It’s who she is. It’s real leadership. And it’s why she’s been able to coherently assemble a bureaucracy that has already won accolades for its attempts to simplify lending regulations, and why the Chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel served as a remarkable oasis of intellectual honesty in Washington during the bailouts.


The news that Elizabeth Warren won’t be leading the CFPB isn’t good news, but it isn’t surprising. It’s more of a clarification, in fact, that Obama has illiberal beliefs. And where Warren goes from here is a good guessing game. Many Democrats are trying to distract from Obama’s choice by pretending that a risky Senate run in Massachusetts for a freshman seat in a broken institution is a step up for Warren. It may be. I suspect it could be tough for her to run for the Senate in a party in which the party leader has already shown he simply cuts against your core beliefs; inherently a Senate Democratic candidate will have to defend the administration’s record of the last few years. Regardless, I hope she continues to project her views widely in the broadest platform possible.

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2011/07/matt-stoller-elizabeth-warren-versus-barack-obama-on-leadership.html

knows the Republicans will never let her be confirmed as head of the agency. But she said the man Obama has nominated--her own lieutenant at the agency--is excellent and will do a fantastic job. His nomination is not evidence of "Obama's illiberal beliefs," because the nominee is, in her opinion, as good as she would be in the job. (Probably he won't be quite as good, just ebcause she is so great, but since she cannot get confirmed, he is as close to Warren's quality as Obama could possibly find and still have a chance at confirmation.)

On Maddow's show, Warren emphasized that the agency itself was Obama's baby, and he fought hard to make sure it got done.

There is more. I realize not everyone will hold the same opinion but seeing how the agency was Everything that Warren has been about (well documented in her books and films she has been featured in) and Obama not so much (as documented in his books-- he is a process person, not a results or principles person) I think you are projecting your hopes onto Obama like many others have in the past.