U.S. Sen. Christopher Dodd offered a ringing endorsement of Ben Bernanke Saturday and predicted the Fed Chairman would be confirmed for a second term, despite rising populist anger at Wall Street that could shape the November elections.
“In the last few days there have been a flurry of media reports on Chairman Bernanke’s confirmation prospects, highlighting a very vocal opposition,” said a statement jointly written by Dodd, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, and New Hampshire Sen. Judd Gregg, a Republican and longtime member of the panel.
“Chairman Bernanke has done an excellent job responding to one of the most significant financial crises our country has ever encountered. We support his nomination because he is the right leader to guide the Federal Reserve in this recovering economy. Based on our discussions with our colleagues, we are very confident that Chairman Bernanke will win confirmation by the Senate for a second term.”
Dodd’s embrace of Bernanke puts him sharply at odds with the Democrat who wants to succeed him, Attorney General Richard Blumenthal.
Blumenthal called for “new leadership” at the Fed during an interview yesterday with John Dankosky on WNPR’s Where We Live.
“I give him credit for many good decisions, but I think that his current tack needs to be changed. And that we need to send a message to our nation that we’re done with the kind of laxity toward Wall Street that has been tolerated for much too long,” Blumenthal told Dankosky.
“The chairmen of the federal reserve have come from the culture and profession that really embodies Wall Street. And Wall Street can do many great things,” Blumenthal said. “But the kind of bailouts that we gave, and the lack of sufficient oversight against the bonuses, and some of the now repeated excesses I think is something that the federal reserve has to be held accountable for doing.”
Blumenthal isn’t the only Democrat to announce opposition to Bernanke. On Friday, Senators Barbara Boxer of California and Russ Feingold of Wisconsin called for new leadership at the Fed. Both Democrats are up for re-election in November and Boxer, in particular, faces a potentially bruising battle.
Opposing Bernanke, one of the architects of the bank bailout and the guy at the helm when the financial system crumbled, could help politicians in November. Rising populist anger was widely viewed as a factor in the Democrats’ loss in Massachusetts on Tuesday and neither political party wants to be portrayed as coddling Wall Street.
Dodd has been fighting the preception that he is too cozy with the banking industry and is pushing for tough new regulations on the financial system. But he is no longer running for re-election and Blumenthal, as the state’s attorney general, has a history as a populist crusader.