Elizabeth Warren will head the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

This is fantastic news. Warren is the reason the new consumer protection agency exists in the first place, she’s the obvious choice to lead it.

My only complaint is that the Obama administration isn’t picking a fight via an outright confirmation hearing. I suspect, given the way things are going right now, no one has the stomach for it leading up to the election but that strikes me as dumb. Force the Republicans to side with the banks that prefer sleazy lending practices, force them to articulate why we shouldn’t be protecting the economic well-being of the other 95%, force them to side with the very institutions that got us into this mess.

Of course, Republicans are masters of convincing their base to vote against their own economic self-interest with sloganeering and outright deception. I’m sure Sarah Palin is already spinning up some death-panel style argument against protecting people from being defrauded.