Obama renominate Ben Bernanke to lead Fed
OAK BLUFFS, Mass. -- President Obama on Tuesday nominated Federal Reserve Board ChairmanBen Bernanke for a second four-year term.
Obama and Bernanke appeared together on Martha's Vineyard, where the president is vacationing.
Bernanke was chosen by President George W. Bush to replace Alan Greenspan in 2006. Together with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and White House economic adviser Lawrence Summers, Bernanke helped craft a set of economic stimulus and financial regulation policies intended to help the U.S. weather the recession.
"As an expert on the causes of the Great Depression, I'm sure Ben never imagined that he would be part of a team responsible for preventing another," Obama plans to say, according to prepared remarks provided to USA TODAY by one of the officials.
Officials who spoke on condition of anonymity said said Geithner, Summers and White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel all recommended Bernanke's renomination, which requires Senate confirmation.
Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd, D-Conn., said that although he felt Bernanke was "too slow to act during the early stages of the foreclosure crisis … he ultimately demonstrated effective leadership, and his reappointment sends the right signal to the markets."
Bernanke, 55, a former Princeton University economics professor and department chairman, joined the Federal Reserve in 2002. He became chairman of Bush's Council of Economic Advisers in 2005.
As Fed chairman, he masterminded what is now seen as a successful strategy to lift the economy out of recession, unlock credit and stabilize financial markets, in part by using unconventional and unprecedented lending programs. But he's not without his detractors, and Dodd warned of a thorough hearing before Bernanke takes his post for a second time.
Many on Wall Street and in academic circles believe that Bernanke is the best choice to lead the country into a sustainable recovery and would be in the best position to figure out when and how to reel in the trillions of dollars pumped into the economy to battle the crisis.
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