Preferring to "wait until the dust settles," to make a decision on who will replace Ben Bernanke as Fed Chair, Bloomberg resports [7]. Former Obama advisor David Plouffe notes, "Syria right now has kind of paralyzed the town." It would appear that with the Senate planning to start debating the Syrian strike decision tomorrow, the fed-head is yet another bargaining chip on the table. With Summers still the strong "bookies" favorite, it would seem should the Syrian strike become a protracted conflict then Bernanke will stay since, as the NYTimes notes, Summers has "a reputation that is replete with evidence of a temperament unsuited to lead the Fed."
Via Bloomberg, [7]
President Barack Obama will likely wait to announce his nominee to lead the U.S. Federal Reserve until after Congress votes on military action in Syria and probably until the immediate outcome of a strike is clear, according to several people close to the White House.
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“Syria right now has kind of paralyzed the town,” said David Plouffe, a former senior Obama adviser. “They’ll wait until the dust clears.”
An administration official said Obama hasn’t yet decided whom he will nominate for the Fed chairmanship. The official, who requested anonymity because the deliberations are private, declined to discuss the potential timing of an announcement.
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The Senate plans to begin debating an authorization resolution when it returns from its five-week break on Sept. 9. House leaders don’t plan to begin consideration until after a Senate vote, according to a House aide. That opens the possibility that the congressional debate on Syria will drag on until the week of Sept. 16.
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“I’ve seen it many times before,” Griffin said. “These kind of crises just suck all the air out of the room until they’re resolved.”
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“I cannot imagine anything unrelated happening before the Syria votes, and probably not in the immediate aftermath,” said Johnson, now managing director of the Glover Park Group, a Washington-based strategic communications firm. “When the focus is this intense, you’re not going to overload the system with another major debate unless absolutely necessary.”