The White House keeps insisting it has not made a final choice for director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, but there is a growing expectation that Elizabeth Warren will soon get the nod.
The head of the Independent Community Bankers of America said Monday that he thinks Warren has a "better than even chance" of being nominated, probably within the next two weeks. Several other industry observers put that figure even higher, saying it has become increasingly clear in recent weeks that Obama was leaning toward Warren, even if that meant a contentious nomination battle that may force him to make a recess appointment.
But political analysts said the timing of the nomination could not be better for the president, who is now flush with the political capital after the death of Osama bin Laden.
"In the wake of the bin Laden announcement, the White House has to be brimming with confidence," said Brian Gardner, a political analyst at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Inc. "That was a significant development for them, and it probably makes it a little bit easier for them to go ahead with a recess appointment if it were to come to that."
Warren was appointed last year to serve as the Treasury's point person in setting up the new agency, and her chances of receiving the formal nomination have waxed and waned since then. Although Republicans have always raised concerns with her as a potential pick, those objections grew louder as a result of Warren's involvement with a pending legal settlement with the top five mortgage servicers.
Still, speculation that Warren will get the job has mounted, and if Obama wants to nominate her he has to do so soon. The Senate has only nine legislative weeks left to confirm a director before the agency officially assumes its rulemaking and enforcement authorities.
In an interview Monday, Cam Fine, president of the Independent Community Bankers of America, said "everyone in town knows that her name is in play and that she's under serious consideration for the position."
