Obama needs Elizabeth Warren more than ever

Simon Johnson, MIT Professor and co-author of 13 Bankers

The White House today is under pressure, with insiders asking: After the strong showing of the Republicans in the midterm elections, should the president move to the right or to the left?

This is entirely the wrong way to think about the problem - the administration needs to get beyond its mental framework of early 2009, which led it sadly astray with regard to the financial sector. The President needs to find people and themes capable of cutting across the political spectrum; specifically he needs to promote strongly the ideas of Elizabeth Warren - what we need in financial services, above all else, is much more transparency.

The premise - and central mistake - of the Obama administration in 2009-10 can be summed up in what the president said to leading bankers on that fateful day, March 27, 2009: "My administration is the only thing between you and the pitchforks".

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