Time's Nearly Up for Elizabeth Warren

Elizabeth Warren is the architect behind the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the new agency created to police many financial products, including mortgages, and a centerpiece of the Administration's reform efforts. Opposition from Wall Street, Republicans, and some moderate Democrats prevented the Harvard law professor and longtime critic of the banking sector from being nominated to head the bureau after its creation last year. Instead, President Barack Obama appointed Warren as a special adviser in September and asked her to prepare the bureau for its July 21 launch. The move was seen by her supporters as a chance for Warren to placate her critics and clear the way for an eventual nomination.

Six months later, there's little evidence Warren has succeeded. Opposition from Wall Street banks and Republicans has only intensified after her involvement in proposing a $20 billion fine on the mortgage industry. While she's won the support of many small community banks, Warren has converted no new allies in the Senate, leaving her short of the 60 votes needed for confirmation. Before retiring in January, Senator Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.), co-author of the Dodd-Frank regulatory reform bill that created the consumer agency, urged Obama to put somebody else in the job—a vote of no confidence that helps explain rumors that Warren is considering alternative paths, including a run for the Senate. Representatives for Warren declined to comment.