Bernanke is No Miers

I can't honestly say that Ben Bernanke is a familiar name to me, but based on the initial reactions I've been reading and hearing, he seems like a top-notch candidate to succeed Alan Greenspan as chairman of the Federal Reserve Board (arguably one of the most powerful positions in the free world). He has impeccable academic credentials (Harvard summa cum laude; MIT doctorate; former chairman of the Economics department at Princeton; distinguished published works on inflation and monetary policy), experience in the Federal Reserve, and the recognition and endorsement of colleagues, economics experts, politicians on both sides of the aisle, and most importantly, Wall Street (which rose 170 points on the news). The only downside of the nomination of this imminently qualified candidate is that it makes the nomination of Harriet Miers (who is as unqualified and indistinguished as Bernanke is qualified and distinguished) look all the more ridiculous by comparison.