The Threat To The Fed

Like Ezra, Neil Irwin worries that Perry's extremism will politicize monetary policy:

[T]he attack from Perry and others in the race for the Republican nomination does complicate the Fed’s job ahead. The central bank is supposed to make its decisions in response to economics, not politics. But officials will be reluctant to do anything that puts the Fed in the crosshairs of what is sure to be a polarizing presidential election. That being the case, Fed leaders might be more receptive to tools to ease monetary policy that don’t come across as "printing more money."

Yglesias differs somewhat:

I think that insofar as it seems likely that Obama will be opposed in the 2012 general election by someone who regards Bernanke as a traitor and who evinces fundamental ignorance of the role of a modern central bank, that this will tend to neutralize any pro-Republican prejudice that may exist in Bernanke’s mind.

Heh.