Nader: Obama ‘a coward’ for passing up Warren

WINSTED — News that President Barack Obama had passed over Elizabeth Warren in deciding who should head up the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) was not well-received among progressives across the country this week, not the least of whom was Winsted native Ralph Nader, who fired off a press release calling the president’s decision “an act of political cowardliness.” In a follow-up interview with The Winsted Journal Tuesday afternoon, Nader was even more critical of the president, calling Obama “a coward” who backs down from political battles while catering to Wall Street executives.“He has done this again and again,” Nader said. “He has turned his back on the people who sent him to the White House in order to get on his knees in front of Wall Street. Every time he does something like that he’s signaling spinelessness, and he’s signaling to the Republicans and the corporate lobbyists swarming all over Congress that he can be had.”After months of work by Warren to create the CFPB, Obama surprised many people Monday by announcing his choice for the agency’s leader — former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray. The president made the announcement in a White House press conference Monday, in which both Warren and Cordray appeared.“I am proud to nominate Richard Cordray to this post,” the president said in his televised remarks. “And we’ve been recently reminded why this job is going to be so important. There is an army of lobbyists and lawyers right now working to water down the protections and the reforms that we passed. They’ve already spent tens of millions of dollars this year to try to weaken the laws that are designed to protect consumers.  And they’ve got allies in Congress who are trying to undo the progress that we’ve made. We’re not going to let that happen.”While Obama did not specifically address his decision not to choose Warren, the Associated Press called his choice an acknowledgment that Warren did not have the political backing to win Senate confirmation.Nader said Obama’s decision sent a more explicit message to the American people. “She was the best candidate we’ve had for a federal, law-and-order agency against corporate crime and fraud in 40 years,” he said. “What kind of message does it send to people around the country who are able and smart and diligent? The message is, if you’re too good, too honest, too able and too diligent, you’re not going to get the job. That’s the message Barack Obama sent to America yesterday. Here’s a woman who had brains and backbone, and what did she get in return from Obama? A pink slip and showing her the exit door.”Nader has criticized Obama for numerous decisions since the president took office in 2009, but his remarks were particularly sharp this week. “He’s afraid of Wall Street. He bailed out Wall Street and he’s still afraid of them. All he can do is bring ex-Wall Street people into his White House.”Nader said he was particularly disappointed with Monday’s press conference, in which Obama said it was Warren who chose Cordray to lead the CFPB. “He had her stand with him and [Treasury Secretary Tim] Geithner,” Nader said. “He’s such a coward. He said, ‘Elizabeth, you have done a great job and one of your charges was to find a great director, and you’ve done that.’ He didn’t even have the guts to say, ‘I wanted Cordray.’ He put words in her mouth, saying that it was her idea.”Obama did specifically note that Cordray was one of the first people Warren chose to help develop the CFPB. “[H]e’s helped stand up the bureau’s enforcement division over the past six months,” Obama said. “I should also point out that he took this job — which meant being away from his wife and 12-year-old twins back in Ohio — because he believed so deeply in the mission of the bureau. “Prior to this, as Ohio’s attorney general, Rich helped recover billions of dollars in things like pension funds on behalf of retirees and stepped up the state’s efforts against unscrupulous lending practices. He’s also served as Ohio’s treasurer and has successfully worked with people across the ideological spectrum — Democrats and Republicans, banks and consumer advocates.”Months in the makingThe creation of an agency to assist consumers with financial issues was a result of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, aka the Dodd-Frank Act, which passed in July 2010. The law calls for an independent director appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate. Warren was chosen by President Obama to create the CFPB and has been organizing the new agency for the past 10 months. She was widely considered to be the top candidate for the position, despite opposition from Republicans in Congress.In a conference call with reporters Monday, as reported in The Atlantic, Warren placed the blame for her not being nominated squarely on the GOP. “Let me put it this way,” she said. “I’m saving all the rocks in my pockets for Republicans. And if that’s too partisan for you, then shame on me.” Republicans have been widely critical not only of Warren but the CFPB in general, saying the agency will have too much power and add unnecessary regulation to financial markets. Forty-four Republican senators signed a letter to Obama in May vowing to block any nominee to the CFPB until the agency is restructured. Members of the GOP have already vowed to block the appointment of Cordray, demanding legislation that will restrict the agency’s power and replace the director with a five-member board. The Republican-led House of Representatives was expected to vote on a bill scaling back the CFPB’s power this week.President Obama said Monday that he would fight for a strong, effective agency in the face of the opposition. “The fact is the financial crisis and the recession were not the result of normal economic cycles or just a run of bad luck,” the president said. “They were abuses and there was a lack of smart regulations. “So we’re not just going to shrug our shoulders and hope it doesn’t happen again. We’re not going to go back to the status quo where consumers couldn’t count on getting protections that they deserved. We’re not going to go back to a time when our whole economy was vulnerable to a massive financial crisis. That’s why reform matters. That’s why this bureau matters. I will fight any efforts to repeal or undermine the important changes that we passed.”Nader said he thinks Cordray may be able to do a good job as head of the CFPB if he is able to survive legislative hurdles, including what is expected to be a tough Senate confirmation, but he said Warren was still the most obviously qualified candidate. “The American people in many ways showed they wanted Elizabeth Warren to be the top cop to protect their financial services from corporate fraud and crimes,” Nader sad. “She was by far the most expert, most able and the best communicator. She thought up the idea for the agency. She built it up for many months, recruited good people and set priorities. And she wanted the job. And next thing she knew, Barack Obama threw her overboard.”