Remember when I said that Obama would not recess appoint Elizabeth Warren, or use the law to allow her to be the interim head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, because that’s what the DFH’s^* would want?

Well, I was right. The White House is now shopping its plan to the media, and ABC’s Jake Tapper has the scoop:

President Obama will announce this week that Elizabeth Warren, the Harvard Law School professor who first proposed the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, will be named to a special position reporting to both him and to the Treasury Department and tasked with heading the effort to get the new federal agency standing, a knowledgeable Democrat told ABC News.

So she will be a “special advisor”, not a recess appointment, nor the better alternative of an interim appointment.

So, she won’t have authority to:

• Set budgets.
• Hire staff.
• Fire staff.
• Explicitly write policy.
• Direct investigations.

But I guess that she will be writing some really nice policy papers.

Matthew Yglesias nails what is going on:

With Warren, Obama showing real innovation in developing odd, satisfying to nobody compromises.

If this is what demoralizes your base. They follow this stuff closely, and the people who stuff envelopes and go door to door are the sorts who do follow this stuff closely, and it takes about 3 minutes to realize that this is a canard.

Honestly, appointing Warren is a no pain all gain alternative, because the American people hate the bankers, but they are afraid of offending people.

<Facepalm>

^*Dirty F%$#ing Hippies.