Reply #81: Fed replacement means high stakes for Bush

[54anickel]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9740665/

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"This is not just a job about monetary policy anymore," says anti-tax activist Grover Norquist. "Whoever Bush picks will be seen as a great economic spokesperson, period."

Non-partisan appearance vital
A Fed chief's credibility depends upon his or her not being perceived as conventionally political or tied to the White House. Responding to that question in the Rose Garden, Bush himself observed, "It's this independence of the Fed that gives people not only here in America, but the world, confidence." Yet the process of replacing the most recognized authority on U.S. economic policy may be unprecedentedly political.

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Bold initiatives planned for this first year of his second term are either doomed or in trouble. Bush lacks the public support -- and among his own party, the political will -- to win private accounts for Social Security, and his tax-reform panel is recommending changes to the tax code that are politically risky and -- so far, at least -- uninspiring to conservatives. His ability to pass controversial domestic legislation arguably wanes with every passing week and every lost point of job approval.

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The White House may be downplaying its search, but Norquist claims that the lead role being played by Vice President Cheney, :hurts: confirmed by NBC News, implies "the level of their understanding of how important it is."