Obama and the financial industry

While I've generally been happy with President Obama's strategy of surrounding himself with people known for their intelligence and competence rather than ideology, I have to say I'm sympathetic to those who don't want to see Ben Bernanke confirmed for a second term as the Federal Reserve chairman. As smart as this guy seems--and as effective he may have been at backing the car out of the ditch--he was, at the very least, holding the map when the car veered off the road in the first place. From all reports that I've read, Bernanke just didn't see financial meltdown coming.

And as Frank Rich describes in his latest column, I'm coming around to the view that Obama is too tightly wed to too many people who had a hand in creating the environment that led to the meltdown.

I think it's time to see some action on the position that candidate Obama staked out: namely, that it's silly to expect to keep the same old people around and get a different result. I never expected Obama to be a radical, and I actually admire his small "c" conservatism. But when people are part of the problem, you need a different point of view. Like Paul Volcker's, which Obama is belatedly tuning into.

For the record, I don't agree with Rich that Obama squandered political capital on healthcare reform, but I'm on the same page with him that the President should have been less deferential to Congress about what a bill should look like. The Baucus interlude over the summer felt like a waste at the time; it now, obviously, can be seen as disaster.