Dodd's Moment Of Truth

Now is Sen. Chris Dodd's moment of truth. Head of the Banking Committee, it is his job to re-write the banking rules.

The walking contradiction that is Dodd has been the both friends of big business and a populist reformer:

That intensity is building in Chris Dodd. What worries the financial industry is that the senator has become a wounded bear, one who will go out of his way to protect his reputation as a defender of the people and maul the banks in the process. And he has the power to do it.

In the grand and urgent project of restarting the nation's banking machinery, it is Chris Dodd in the Senate who will have the final say, as much as Barney Frank in the House, Tim Geithner at Treasury, or Larry Summers in the White House. Which is why, all things considered, Dodd chose the banking role rather than presiding over, say, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, a chairmanship that was his for the taking when Joe Biden gave it up in January. Despite Dodd's bumpy road so far, his old friend Ted Kennedy predicted in a statement to Fortune that his colleague will prevail: "I respect him now more than ever."

Will he over-compensate the public tensions and punish the banks? Or is the lifelong politician "with extraordinary political skills" going to save the day? We're all watching, Chris.

Source: Fortune/CNN