In a recess appointment, President Obama thwarted the Republicans who have successfully blocked the appointment of Richard Cordray to direct the consumer protection bureau set up in part by Professor Elizabeth Warren.   The opposition to the appointment is less about Cordray's qualifications and more about opposition to the bureau itself, according to reports.  There are legal issues with the appointment including the language of the bill itself which requires a Senate confirmation of the director.  However, whether he wins or loses the legal war the President may have won the political battle.  "In the case of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the White House hopes to portray Obama as standing up for middle-class families and Republicans as beholden to banks and mortgage companies. Underscoring the political theme, aides hung a large blue banner proclaiming "We can't wait" in the high school gymnasium here where Obama announced the appointment of Richard Cordray, Ohio's former attorney general, to head the bureau. It was Obama's 17^th trip to Ohio, a major swing state in the election, and came the day after former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney won a narrow victory in the first contest in the Republican nomination battle. Cordray's nomination has been blocked in the Senate since summer by a Republican filibuster, which Obama said had hurt consumers. "Every day that we waited was another day when millions of Americans were left unprotected," he said. "Without a director in place, the consumer watchdog agency that we've set up doesn't have all the tools it needs to protect consumers against dishonest mortgage brokers or payday lenders and debt collectors who are taking advantage of consumers. 'That's inexcusable. It's wrong. And I refuse to take no for an answer.' Republicans reacted furiously. House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) called Obama's move 'an extraordinary and entirely unprecedented power grab.' Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said the president had acted 'arrogantly' and that his decision "fundamentally endangers the Congress' role in providing a check on the excesses of the executive branch." Romney called the appointments 'Chicago-style politics at its worst.'" Here is a link to this article from the LA Times: http://articles.latimes.com/2012/jan/04/nation/la-na-obama-cordray-20120105 Michael