Assistant Treasury Secretary Michael Barr appears to have the inside track as the candidate to lead the new consumer-oriented watchdog — a key post established as part of new regulatory measures to clean up Wall Street.
As the financial regulation was signed into law by President Obama, many Washington and Wall Street sources voiced their support for a Barr nomination.
One Washington insider said Obama is expected to select a nominee for the consumer post within the next two weeks — one of his first moves after signing off on the historic law.
A Yale law school graduate and Rhodes Scholar, Barr knows his way around Washington. He worked as special assistant to former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin and served as an adviser to President Clinton.
Barr’s name is emerging as a candidate amid growing opposition to brainy Harvard law professor Elizabeth Warren — a front-runner in the early going to run the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Praised by fans as a sharp-tongued advocate for average people, critics believe Warren could create divisiveness in Washington due to her tendency to pursue philosophical objectives like a personal crusade, according to one source.
“We need someone who is going to be a traffic cop for consumers, not someone who is going to try and become an urban planner,” said Rep. Mike McMahon (D-SI), who attended the president’s signing.
Meanwhile, McMahon lauded Barr for his ability to compromise after being a huge supporter of some of the harder-hitting derivatives provisions of Sen. Blanche Lincoln’s (D-Ark.), which caused some legislators to threaten to withhold their support.
“He favored Lincoln’s more draconian language on derivatives but was willing to accept the fact that it wasn’t going to pass that way,” McMahon added.