Firedog Lake: The Importance of Elizabeth Warren’s Assistant to the President Position

[Zenlitened]

By: David Dayen Thursday September 16, 2010 3:13 pm

I’ve been thinking a lot and talking to a lot of people about the Elizabeth Warren appointment, which we can expect officially tomorrow. And I think something Jon Cohn wrote, which incidentally references me, makes me far more comfortable about it.

One potential bonus of the appointment is that, as a special assistant, Warren could consult on issues besides consumer protection. As critics like FDL’s David Dayen have pointed out, Obama’s economic team could use some more ideological perspectives. Virtually every key policy adviser represents the same, relatively narrow swath of center-left thinking. (That’s even more true with the departure of economist Christy Romer.) The team could also stand to have a few more people from less privileged backgrounds. Warren, who is a more unabashed populist and comes from a working-class family, would provide that diversity.

As I said in that article referenced above, Warren has a different worldview than virtually all of the economic policy advisers that have the ear of the President. Sure, there are a couple progressives with the title of Assistant to the President, like Melody Barnes of the Domestic Policy Council or Political Director Patrick Gaspard. But when it comes to financial policy, nobody with the stature or intellectual weight of Warren is anywhere close to the President’s inner circle. And Warren’s role puts her even closer.

This is what many of us have been calling for since the beginning of the Presidency, for someone to break the Geithner/Summers stranglehold on marcoeconomic policy. Warren will at least have a chance to take her concerns right to the President, and not just on consumer protection...

Link:
http://news.firedoglake.com/2010/09/16/the-importance-of-elizabeth-warrens-assistant-to-the-president-position/

[Rosa Luxemburg]

1. She needs to take them by the throat

[boppers]

2. Don't worry, within weeks FDL will be painting Warren as a Wall street flunkie.

They're kind of predictable that way.

[jefferson_dem]

3. I wish I could view FDL as a credible source.

Sorry, can't trust their perspective, whatever it may be.