Politics
Obama bypasses senate, names Richard Cordray head of new consumer watchdog
President Barack Obama on Wednesday will buck Republican opposition in a defiant display of executive power and name a new U.S. chief consumer watchdog. Outraged Republican leaders in Congress suggested that courts would determine the appointment was illegal.
More than a standoff over one significant appointment, the fight speaks to the heart of a presidential campaign under way. Presiding over a troubled but improving economy, Obama’s must persuade a weary American middle class that he is their advocate, while fending off criticism from Republicans challengers and lawmakers.
With a director in place, the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau can start overseeing the mortgage companies, payday lenders, debt collectors and other financial companies often blamed for practices that helped tank the economy.
The president planned to highlight just that point during his announcement later Wednesday in Ohio that he was putting Richard Cordray in the job.
It seems certain to raise the level of confrontational politics for a president seeking re-election by championing the middle class. Acting right after Tuesday’s Republican presidential caucuses in Iowa, Obama is seeking to grab attention with his most brazen leap-frog over Congress and show that criticism will not slow him.
Republicans have stalled Cordray’s nomination because they think the consumer agency is too powerful and unaccountable.
The Senate’s top Republican, Senator Mitch McConnell, accused Obama of an unprecedented power grab that “arrogantly circumvented the American people.”
