Consumer Law

Warren can help for two big reasons, starting with the fact that, unlike most politicians who claim to be outsiders, she really is one. She's not wedded to Washington ways, or a prisoner of expectations that lobbyists rule and nothing can change.

In a conference call Friday, Warren stressed that she'd had Obama's full support in establishing the new agency - an idea she first proposed when he was a senator. And she said Obama's support didn't waver even as other presumed allies - such as Barney Frank, chair of the House Financial Services Committee - voiced doubts.

"Everyone told me a year and a half ago that this idea of getting a consumer agency was a pipe dream," Warren says. "I would like to underline that. Those were exactly Barney Frank's words."

The other big reason that Warren is a breath of fresh air - and I know this will disappoint my libertarian friends - is that she's the anti-Ayn Rand. Warren is a public intellectual of great talent and insight who understands that the real world doesn't operate like some libertarian fantasyland divided between virtuous "producers" and the rest of us ne'er-do-wells.