Fed Pick Comes at Crucial Time

WSJ.com - CHRISTOPHER COOPER : "In selecting Ben Bernanke to succeed Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, President Bush didn't take any chances that his nomination for the powerful post would add to the administration's political woes.

Though Mr. Bernanke's appointment doesn't appear to be political, it is possible that the timing of yesterday's announcement was. This week may prove crucial for the administration. Special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald is expected to wrap up his two-year investigation into the leaking of a Central Intelligence Agency operative's identity, and appears to be focusing on Karl Rove, the president's top political adviser, and Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, I. Lewis Libby. In the past, White House officials had said that they didn't expect Mr. Bush to name a successor to Mr. Greenspan until mid-November.

Mr. Bush told reporters recently he has "plenty" of political capital left, despite the deficit, problems in Iraq, a criminal probe involving close political advisers and a Supreme Court nomination that is taking on water in the Senate. But he clearly didn't want to start another fight by picking a nominee who might roil markets or face trouble in the Senate.

Unlike some other Bush administration appointments that were clearly designed to make a political statement, Mr. Bush may have had little leeway in selecting Mr. Bernanke. And the White House appears determined to demonstrate the choice of Mr. Bernanke has nothing to do with politics or cronyism. Such criticism has been leveled at the Supreme Court nomination of Harriet Miers, Mr. Bush's personal lawyer and longtime friend.

Mr. Bush recently said that politics would have no bearing on the appointment of the new Fed chairman; the administration moved to bolster this assertion yesterday when it said it consulted heavily with Mr. Greenspan before choosing Mr. Bernanke, a former Fed governor and currently chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers.

Administration officials also have been careful to say that Mr. Bernanke didn't play a role in the decision-making process, unlike Ms. Miers, who was instrumental in vetting former Supreme Court nominee and now Chief Justice John Roberts. A White House aide said yesterday that part of Mr. Bernanke's appeal was his track record with the Senate, which has confirmed him three times, and because he is widely viewed as being less political than some other top candidates for the job. This gave Mr. Bernanke an edge over economists Larry Lindsey and Glenn Hubbard, former administration officials perceived by some outside the White House as more partisan, a White House aide said.

The White House says it considered about 20 candidates, though aides say only a handful received serious consideration. In a written summary of the selection process, spokesman Scott McClellan said yesterday that the search began in April. "The president went through a very deliberative and thoughtful process," Mr. McClellan said.

But at a televised news conference three weeks ago, Mr. Bush seemed intent on staying somewhat apart from the process, saying, "It's important that whomever I pick is viewed as an independent person from politics." Mr. Bush added that he hadn't yet begun reviewing candidates for the position, leaving it instead to a team inside the White House.

In his synopsis of the selection process, Mr. McClellan said the internal vetting team consisted of Vice President Cheney and Mr. Libby, White House Chief of Staff Andy Card, National Economic Adviser Al Hubbard and Liza Wright, the president's assistant for personnel."