The challenge as reported by Politico
Sens. Scott Brown of Massachusetts and Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine "strongly [urged]" the President not to bypass the Senate, but to "follow regular order" in naming the head of the Consumer Financial Protection Agency, according to the letter obtained by POLITICO.
"While we may have different views of the need for this new agency, as supporters of the legislation that included it, we firmly believe the United States Senate’s responsibilities in confirming the head of the CFPB are paramount," the senators wrote, citing they were "deeply disappointed" by previous recess appointments made by the president in recent weeks.
Those three handed President Obama a royal flush. But he won't know that if he's ambivalent about appointing Elizabeth Warren to head the Consumer Financial Protection and/or continues to be awkward when pivoting from defense to offense. – His Oval Office Speech on Oil demonstrated that point. While clumsy, GWB's team had the right idea when they stuck him on that aircraft carrier and in Jackson Square. In real time, neither were seen as stunts, and both silenced the opposition and made the sale with the majority of the public. Symbolism is as much if not more important than what public figures say, and Newcastle, Maine would be a perfect place from which to challenge Snowe, Collins and Brown.
Specifically, The Frances Perkins Center (Decorated with appropriately symbolic banners.)
A lovely place for a little speech:
A hundred years ago a remarkable woman from Massachusetts and Maine was appointed to head the New York Consumers League. Her name was Frances Perkins. She later became Franklin Roosevelt's Secretary of Labor. The first woman to hold a cabinet position in our federal government. But that was only the beginning of the history she made. Americans today owe much to the efforts of Ms. Perkins. The Fair Labor Standards Act that established minimum wage and overtime laws for American workers, worker and child labor protections, and through the Social Security act established unemployment insurance. She had the vision to see what the people needed to make their lives safer and more secure and the tenacity to get much of it for us.
Many Americans were relieved when Congress finally passed and I signed an extension of unemployment benefits. Yet we should ask ourselves why assisting hard-working Americans in difficult times was so contentious and took so long. Where is our collective heart and wisdom? We weren't inventing a system of unemployment insurance or enacting the system. Francis Perkins and others did that for us seventy-five years ago. Our task was merely to appropriate the needed funds. A small task that we needlessly turned into a large one.
A few days ago, I had the honor of signing the financial reform bill. Passing that legislation was a large task and worth the hard and long fight to get it done. One of the signature features of it is the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Agency. As with our system of unemployment insurance, a women with heart, expertise, and wisdom pushed long and hard for an agency that will protect the American people from fraudulent financial products and sadly, from financial predators as well. That woman is Dr. Elizabeth Warren. If you don't know who Ms. Warren is, you soon will because I've asked her to take on the daunting task of setting up and running the CFPA. I ask the Senate to act expeditiously in performing their duty to confirm this nomination.
Nobody can claim that Dr. Warren is a blank slate or has a hidden agenda. In her books, articles, interviews, and as chair of the TARP Congressional Oversight Commission, she has clearly and consistently espoused fairness for ordinary people. She has that rare ability to speak plainly about the complex. Time magazine named her one of our important thinkers in their 2010 Time 100 list. There are more high-profile and prestigious positions in government, business and academia that Ms. Warren would be eminently qualified for than heading the Consumer Financial Protection Agency, but at this time in our history, none is more important.
From the Frances Perkins Center, it is my honor to nominate Dr. Elizabeth Warren to lead the Consumer Protection Agency to lead us forward in the 21st Century.
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Sometimes it's difficult not to dream.