Afternoon Must-Read: Daniel Strauss: Sen. Warren Tears Into Defenders Of Poetry-Loving Obama Treasury Nominee Antonio Weiss

If Elizabeth Warren and Simon Johnson had names–or a name–of a better candidate than Antonio Weiss who would take the job of Undersecretary of the Treasury, they would have a much stronger case than they do.

To argue for Janet Yellen over Larry Summers as Fed Chair was not silly. To argue for Elizabeth Warren over Michael Barr as CFPB Director was not silly.

To argue for an empty seat over Antonio Weiss is, however, a much, much harder lift to make…

Daniel Strauss:
Sen. Warren Tears Into Defenders Of Poetry-Loving Obama Treasury Nominee: In leaving Lazard, Warren noted that Weiss would receive a golden parachute of about $20 million. “For me, this is just one spin of the revolving door too many. Enough is enough,” Warren said. “The response to these concerns has been, let’s say, loud. First his supporters say ‘come on, he’s an investment banker so of course he should be qualified to oversee complicated financial work at treasury. But his defenders haven’t shown his actual experience that qualifies him for this job at treasury.” One of the more substantive arguments against Warren’s opposition to Weiss is that he’s as good as could possibly be gotten in a nominee for a top treasury position. Warren said she has supported qualified people with ties to Wall Street but that’s not what Weiss is…

They need an alternative candidate or candidates. Badly.