United Liberty

As was noted in this morning’s headlines, Jake Tapper is reporting that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) may not have the votes necessary to confirm President Barack Obama’s reappointment of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke:

Amidst the voter anger at Wall Street and Washington, D.C., ABC News has learned that the Senate Democratic leadership isn’t sure there are enough votes to re-confirm Ben Bernanke for another term as chairman of the Federal Reserve.

Bernanke’s term expires on Jan. 31.

The White House did not respond to many requests for comment.
[…]
Roll Call reported this week that at the Senate Democratic caucus meeting on Wednesday, “according to senators, liberals spoke out against confirming Bernanke for a second term. Those liberals tried to make the case that the White House needs to put in place fresh economic advisers to focus on ‘Main Street’ issues like unemployment rather than Wall Street concerns. Moderates were more reserved, senators said, but have similarly withheld their support for Bernanke.

Tapper also quotes from a statement from Sen. Reid:

The majority leader met with Bernanke earlier today and issued a statement saying that he believes “more pressure needs to be applied to banks to lend money to small businesses and keep more Americans in their homes.” Reid said that the “American people expect our economic leaders to keep Wall Street honest and level the playing field for middle class families, and I will continue to hold their feet to the fire to ensure this happens. As the Senate prepares to take up Chairman Bernanke’s nomination, I look forward to hearing more from him about how he intends to address these issues.”

That is less than reassuring considering the Fed’s easy money policy, defended by Bernanke, and pressure from Congress on banks to lend is part of what caused our economic problems to begin with. It’s apparent that our elected leaders are insane because they keep doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a different result.

Perhaps the best argument for reappointing Bernanke at this point is the alternative that Obama would likely choose is “worse.”.