President Barack Obama on Wednesday took his boldest step yet to side-step Republicans, appointing a new financial watchdog they had hotly opposed and setting the tone for an election-year strategy designed to tap deep voter frustration with Congress.
Democrat Obama, during a visit to election swing-state Ohio, will announce he has used a recess appointment to install former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray to head the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the White House said. Stepping back into the 2012 campaign spotlight just a day after Iowa held the first contest of Republican presidential hopefuls, Obama's controversial go it alone move could deepen already bitter partisan divisions in Congress.
Republicans had held up Cordray's appointment because they wanted changes made to how the agency operates, and reacted with anger at a move they said ran roughshod over congressional traditions designed to balance presidential power. The Democratic president, fresh from a 10-day Hawaii vacation, was travelling with Cordray to Cleveland to make the case for his economic policies, seeking to draw a contrast with Republican candidates vying to face him on the November ballot.
The consumer financial watchdog is a cornerstone of Obama's financial services industry overhaul, designed to police the sort of excessive lending practices that contributed to the 2007-2009 subprime mortgage crisis and a severe US recession. But many Republicans, as well as the banking industry, have been sharply critical of the new legislation and say it burdens the country's financial service sector in uncompetitive red tape that could weigh down the broader economy and cost jobs.