PRESIDENT BUSH knew exactly what he wanted when he picked a successor to Alan Greenspan as chairman of the Federal Reserve Board. He sought a nominee as risk-free as possible, someone with little chance of either encountering a bitter confirmation fight or, once in office, of opposing his economic policy. So Ben Bernanke, now the chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) at the White House, was the logical choice.
In fact, the president had settled on Bernanke, 51, by late last week, though the actual nomination was not to be announced until later this month or early November. In the meantime, Bernanke was to begin a series of pre-nomination meetings on Wall Street to chat with financial leaders. But the meetings were postponed and the announcement of his selection was speeded up–at the urging of Republican Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee–to assure confirmation by Christmas.
