After weeks of speculation, and days of "she'll get the job", the White House pulled the trigger and gave her the job.
Noting that she will be able to make her “original vision a reality” President Obama formally appointed Elizabeth Warren as Assistant to the President & Special Advisor to the Secretary of the Treasury on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
“Elizabeth understands what I strongly believe -- that a strong, growing economy begins with a strong and thriving middle class,” the president said from the Rose Garden this afternoon, “And that means every American has to get a fair shake in their financial dealings.”
The president said that both he -- and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner - agree that Warren is the best person to stand this agency up and get it off the ground, noting that the Bureau was her idea three years ago.
"She was the architect behind the idea for a consumer watchdog, so it only makes sense that she’d be the -- she should be the architect working with Secretary of Treasury Geithner in standing up the agency."
This is an interim gig, which suits everyone fine. Warren can set the Bureau up to her specifications and vision. The White House doesn't have to fight a hostile Wall Street-owned Senate to get her confirmed. And the gig will be finished in time for her to start her 2012 campaign for Senate in Massachusetts. (And yes, I'm already aboard that bandwagon, even if I have to build the wagon myself.)