FEDERAL Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will garner enough votes to win US Senate confirmation for a second term despite opposition from key Democrats, US President Barack Obama's top adviser said yesterday.
"The president is very confident that the chairman will be confirmed," said adviser David Axelrod, who praised Bernanke's handling of the global economic meltdown.
"Chairman Bernanke offered very strong and steady leadership during this crisis, without which we... may have slipped into the abyss. And we are still in a fragile state, although the economy is growing," Mr Axelrod told CNN's State of the Union television program.
The White House aide voiced praise of Mr Bernanke's stewardship of US monetary policy and said he needs another term as the country's banker to ensure that a nascent economic recovery continues on track.
"There is a great deal of concern relative to the financial sector. And understand that we need his leadership," Mr Axelrod said.
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President Barack Obama's administration has been scrambling to save his beleaguered Fed nominee - first installed by Obama's predecessor George W Bush in February 2006- in the face of opposition from members his own Democratic party.
Two senior Senate Democrats, Barbara Boxer and Russell Feingold, announced Friday they would vote against Mr Bernanke after his first term ends on January 31.
All told, as many as 10 senators are thought to oppose Mr Bernanke, criticizing him for being too closely allied with Wall Street.
Senator John McCain, Obama's Republican rival in the 2008 presidential race, said he was "leaning against" supporting Bernanke, claiming that "his policies were partially responsible for the meltdown that we experienced."
"Chairman Bernanke was in charge when we hit the iceberg," Mr McCain told CBS program Face the Nation.
Ramped up Democratic opposition to a second term for Mr Bernanke underscores a major populist shift in the political landscape since Republicans won a stunning upset last week in the Massachusetts election for a US Senate seat, ending the 60-seat Democratic supermajority in the chamber.
But analysts have warned that tossing out Mr Bernanke could trigger renewed turmoil in financial markets.
Time magazine named Bernanke its 2009 "Person of the Year" in December, crediting him with helping guide the US through financial turmoil.
