The special advisor

I guess it’s kind of sort of perhaps maybe a good thing that there were rumors sailing around yesterday from anonymous sources that Elizabeth Warren is going to be appointed not as the head of the new consumer protection branch of the federal government, but as a special advisor to the Treasury Department charged with getting this new agency up and running. Among people I know only via television and the Internets, Elizabeth Warren is one of my favorites. She’s a total bitch with the big boys when it comes to trying to balance the books. When she was asked, on camera, where the TARP money had actually gone, she said, simply, “I don’t know.” Timothy Geithner, on the other hand, is one of my least favorite people from that realm. As the head of the Treasury, I can think of no more blatant example of how far one can go in this country on inherited privilege than Timothy Geithner. As the person appointed to oversee TARP, Elizabeth Warren openly and frequently criticized him for not showing up at meetings. Now he’s going to be her boss. That could make for some interesting television, certainly, but I don’t quite buy Obama’s comments about putting Elizabeth Warren in the role of special advisor rather than head honcho due to the urgency of the business at hand. The work is important, he’s said, and there’s no time for a drawn-out confirmation process. In fact, I don’t buy it at all. I think what’s going on is a typical instance of Democrats screwing up what could otherwise be a golden opportunity. Imagine Elizabeth Warren taking a seat at the witness table. Bring your questions and comments, boys and girls. If any elected official wants to ridicule and humiliate someone for demanding to know where tax dollars are being spent, and on what, hell, let them. In fact, there’s the soundtrack for the campaign commercials.  It would be great, except that I’m dreaming, of course. The problem is that Elizabeth Warren cuts both ways. She goes after Democrats who have cozy relationships with the money with the same fervor she unleashes on Republicans. Unlike the two go-alongs Obama has appointed to the big court thus far, I doubt a confirmation hearing starring Elizabeth Warren would have at its center sentimental, schmaltzy recollections of holiday dinners and the importance of good, old-fashioned parenting. And that could cause problems for lots of people who claim the banking industry must be brought under control, including the president himself. In spit of all his tough talk, he is as beholden as anyone in Washington to the banks, including the top contributor to his 2008 campaign, Goldman Sachs. That could make things a bit awkward, I suppose.