Barack Obama

Why Obama's Defying The GOP And Appointing Top Consumer Watchdog

Brian Beutler | January 4, 2012, 9:54AM

President Barack Obama

Update 10:17 Eastern. This post has been updated from an earlier version in order to reflect the full confirmation that has now come in..

The White House confirmed Wednesday morning that President Obama will announce a recess appointment for Richard Cordray to run the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau at a speech in Ohio later today. Cordray was a well-liked Ohio Attorney General until last year, after he was toppled by the GOP midterm wave in 2010.

Cordray's an accidental victim of a brazen act of GOP obstruction. They're refusing to allow an up-or-down vote on any CFPB nominee until the agency itself is fundamentally weakened -- an extra-legal attempt to nullify a key portion of an act of law.

Obama actually missed his best opportunity to recess appoint his top consumer watchdog on Tuesday. But there are reasons Obama opted to take a more confrontational approach.

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