Ben Bernanke - Reappointed Without Enthusiasm

As predicted in these pages last week, Fed Chairman
Ben Bernanke was reappointed. The Senate, however
grudgingly and unethusiastically, did its duty and
re-appointed him by a vote of 70-30.

The much-anticipated filibuster on the nomination
failed to materialize, and the motion for cloture on
debate passed easily. From there, the re-appointment
was easy.

Helicopter Ben has another four-year lease on the
Huey.

But, the re-nomination did not come without
warnings. Both Senate majority leader Harry Reid
and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell re-iterated
that we will be "keeping the Fed under close scrutiny"
as they voted for the re-nomination.

And, senator after senator stated their lack of enthusiasm
for the nomination during the vote. In fact, if you had
listened to the comments and nothing else, you would
have thought the nomination was headed for defeat.

But the reasons the nomination eventually sailed
through were fairly obvious.

First of all, there was no serious outside contender for
the job. "Boomlets" for Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman
and former Fed Chairman Paul Volcker failed to materialize.
Which meant, of course, that had the nomination failed,
the Fed would have been left in caretaker hands at a critical
moment in the nation's economic struggle, and the Senate
would have been held responsible.

Even more important, the people were not about to be
fooled. For as much as they might blame the Fed, the
Treasury Department, and Wall Street for the nation's
economic woes, they blame the Congress even more.

On issue after issue, The Congress has ducked, bobbed,
weaved, and otherwise completely abdicated its responsibilities.

On the bailouts for Wall Street and the
automakers, after the photo opportunities had faded,
Congress folded and gave these failed monstrosities
whatever they wanted.

On the "stimulus" package, The Congress so loaded
it up with pork and special favors that it surprised
exactly no one that it failed to accomplish its goals.
Saving the bloated paychecks and benefits of
overpaid state and local government employees
is not "saving or creating jobs" - neither is writing
in special favors and contracts for favored campaign
contributors.

And on the Administration's signature Health Care
initiative, creating a package that does absolutely
nothing for expanding coverage or reducing costs
hasn't exactly thrilled the public either.

And voting down the Bernanke nomination wasn't
going to change matters any. No matter how you
spin it, no matter how much we voters detest
Wall Street, The Heath Care cartel, or the cynically
disloyal transnational corporations, we detest
you critters in the Congress even more.

And we're going to turn out in great numbers this
November to let you know that.

Don't say we didn't warn you.