Obama, GOP May be Ready to Deal on CFPB

Hensarling went on to say that he was hoping "that the decision to renominate Mr. Cordray will open the debate about whether some common sense checks and balances will be placed on a massive bureaucracy that is now totally unaccountable to the American people."

While Republicans in Congress were clearly annoyed at the president's hardball recess appointment tactic, they didn't see fit to press the issue. Cordray's recess appointment lasts until the end of 2013.

Petrasic argues that there is still a chance that President Obama may just get what he wants, with a quick Senate confirmation of Cordray: "This time around, Cordray has a track record as the director. Interestingly, I would suggest that the industry is OK with him generally, as the Bureau was responsive to a number of comments the industry put forth" on new mortgage lending rules banning certain sales practices that were finalized last week.

But it may serve Democrats and Republicans to ink some sort of deal and put the CFPB behind them.

"It is probably in the best interest of both parties to depoliticize the nomination process," Petrasic says, adding that "over the long term, for this agency to survive and become a moderating influence, you have to allow for some sort of process that takes it beyond the political process."

-- Written by Philip van Doorn in Jupiter, Fla.

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Philip W. van Doorn is a member of TheStreet's banking and finance team, commenting on industry and regulatory trends. He previously served as the senior analyst for TheStreet.com Ratings, responsible for assigning financial strength ratings to banks and savings and loan institutions. Mr. van Doorn previously served as a loan operations officer at Riverside National Bank in Fort Pierce, Fla., and as a credit analyst at the Federal Home Loan Bank of New York, where he monitored banks in New York, New Jersey and Puerto Rico. Mr. van Doorn has additional experience in the mutual fund and computer software industries. He holds a bachelor of science in business administration from Long Island University.

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