It was a pyrrhic victory if any.
"Weiss, who spent decades at the investment firm Lazard, will still work closely with Treasury Secretary Jack Lew as an appointed adviser who does not require confirmation."
Who won again?
"Fiercely opposed by Warren, Treasury pick withdraws" by Jessica Meyers, Globe Staff January 12, 2015
WASHINGTON — A Wall Street executive whose nomination to a high-level Treasury Department post triggered a showdown between the White House and Senator Elizabeth Warren publicly withdrew his name from contention Monday, giving her a major political victory.
The liberal Massachusetts lawmaker last year defied the White House and launched a bare-knuckle attack against Antonio Weiss, an investment banker President Obama nominated for undersecretary for domestic finance. The battle was seen as a crucial test for the Democratic Party’s liberal wing, which has rallied around Warren’s populist, anti-Wall Street rhetoric.
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Weiss, who spent decades at the investment firm Lazard, will still work closely with Treasury Secretary Jack Lew as an appointed adviser who does not require confirmation. This allows him to serve in a more limited capacity without a months-long, intra-party fight.
Politico first reported Weiss’s decision Monday afternoon. His letter made him a casualty of a broader debate within the Democratic Party about the direction of financial industry regulation and the amount of political power the industry exerts in Washington....
Dem vs. Dem now. How far the debate has shifted over the years.
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Warren said in a statement Monday night, “We should be strengthening financial reforms, not rolling them back to benefit Wall Street.”
The fractures in the party remained even after Weiss’s withdrawal.
“Antonio Weiss’s sin was wanting to be a public servant,” tweeted Jim Kessler, the senior vice president for policy at Third Way, a Washington-based centrist think tank founded by staff members of former President Bill Clinton.
Related: The 2016 Electoral Map
So much for wooing over all those liberals.
Supporters of Weiss accused Warren of misrepresenting his experience for political points and unfairly pigeonholing him. They argued his liberal beliefs and focus on the middle class actually fell in line with Warren’s.
“This sent a message, and the message was Elizabeth Warren is going to be a litmus test for who the president of the United States chooses as staff,” said Tony Fratto, a former assistant Treasury secretary and a spokesman for former president George W. Bush. “It’s going to be difficult for whoever gets the job for domestic finance to have the preferred candidate in the building with you that really is going to be making policy.”
Lew, in a statement, noted Weiss’s “tremendous expertise” and “shared passion” and reiterated the opposition was unfounded.
This is not the first time Warren influenced a high-level financial oversight position. She helped with a campaign last summer to ensure Lawrence Summers, a former Treasury secretary, did not receive the nomination for Federal Reserve chairman.
Last month, she led a liberal revolt against a bipartisan compromise on derivatives trading that she said weakens financial regulations. She lost that fight, but her move briefly cast uncertainty over whether Congress would approve a yearlong bill to fund the government.
That effort came just weeks after she was named to a newly created leadership position among Senate Democrats.
See: "New" Leadership in Wa$hington
Looks like the same old leadership to me.
Progressive groups, many of which are encouraging Warren to run for president, considered Weiss’s decision a win — and gave Warren full credit for it.
Maybe Boxer will run for president.
“It was the right thing for her to do,” Senator Bernie Sanders, the Vermont independent, said in an interview. “We need in this administration people who are prepared to stand up to Wall Street, not be prepared to follow Wall Street.”
Some were still itching for a fight.
“The country would have benefited from an open, public debate about the Wall Street-centric view that what is good for Wall Street is really good for America,” said Dennis Kelleher, chief executive of Better Markets, a nonprofit that advocates for a safer and more transparent financial system, in a statement.
“Avoiding the public Senate confirmation process but nevertheless installing Mr. Weiss in a very senior position at the Treasury Department is unfortunate for the American people.”
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Related: Antonio Weiss, Obama’s Treasury nominee, deserves a vote
Also see:
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Case splitting MLK kin set to begin
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Seth Moulton wins seat on House Armed Services Committee
NEXT DAY UPDATE:
MLK’s son: Ownership of Bible, Nobel prize is only issue
No one asking who really killed him or why, huh?
"Two of the nation’s largest progressive groups will launch an effort in New Hampshire this weekend hoping to draft US Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts into the 2016 presidential race. Last week, Democracy for America and MoveOn.org announced that more than 200,000 Americans signed a petition saying they would support Warren for the Democratic presidential nomination should she run. The effort in New Hampshire is aimed at identifying liberal activists in a state that holds the first presidential primary and building a network that could be handed over to Warren. The New Hampshire kickoff event will take place Saturday in Manchester."
