Bank of America Can't Find CEO: Today's Outrage

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Bank of America (BAC Quote) can't seem to find any qualified candidates outside the bank who want to be CEO.

"Outsiders either aren't interested or lack sought-after skills," The Wall Street Journal reported, citing the unnamed sources who are "familiar" with the search process.

If that is indeed the opinion of Bank of America's board, as the Journal states, then it's a sad acknowledgement of how badly tarnished the company's reputation has become.

It should be no surprise that folks from the top-performing banks such as JPMorgan(JPM Quote), Goldman Sachs (GS Quote) and Wells Fargo (WFC Quote) aren't lining up to replace Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis, who abruptly announced a few weeks ago that he intends to leave by the end of this year.

You can't really blame them, considering the amount of abuse Lewis suffered at the hands of regulators, shareholders and pundits.

For that matter, you can't blame Lewis for deciding it was time to "retire." Lewis got outplayed by his foes, and he knew it.

I have to imagine that he's enjoying a little schadenfreude as he watches the Bank of America board struggle to find his replacement. I imagine he said to himself as he announced his retirement: "You think you can find someone else who wants to do this lousy job? Good luck with that!"

Precious few outsider names have been floated -- including Blackrock Chairman Laurence Fink and GMAC CEO Al de Molina, who previously served as Bank of America's CFO -- but the Journal reports that disagreements and disenchantments prevented those candidates from going anywhere.

Lewis must take a certain amount of pride in the fact that all the best contenders to replace him come from the team he assembled. There's vindication in that. There is a lot of talent among those cited as Bank of America's CEO contenders.