Obama Fakes Summer News Slump, Then Jumps To Reappoint Bernanke

Turns out when President Obama sends out his spokesperson to inform the Air Force One press pool that he wants them to “relax and have a good time. Take walks on the beaches. Enjoy Matha’s Vineyard,” and furthermore assures them that “nobody’s looking to make any news,” what he actually means is that one day into his Martha’s Vineyard vacation he is going to hold a press conference to announce that he will be reappointing Republican Ben Bernanke as Fed chairman. How’s that for relaxing! From here on out the President has no one to blame but himself for all the wound-up reporters crawling around Martha’s Vineyard.

The WSJ notes that the appointment is nearly five months early, and the Times says Obama “effectively decided four or five weeks ago that he wanted Mr. Bernanke to continue, and that he formally discussed the job with him last week at a meeting with the Fed chairman in the White House.” Why announce now? Perhaps the President is hoping to distract from some of the criticism he’s been getting for vacationing in the heat of the health care debate. As for the rationale behind Bernanke’s reappointment, we turn to more experienced hands than ours (also, we want try out Business Insider’s new “steal this post” feature).

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