In recent weeks Ben Bernanke has been taking a lot of heat in the Senate as they debate whether to confirm Bernanke to a second term or not. His first term expires on January 31st of 2010. At least for the moment Bernanke will get his day in the sun as Time Magazine announced him as their Person of the Year for 2009. Since Time Magazine started naming their Person of the Year in 1927, the honor has gone to the person with the most influential and newsworthy person from that year.

Time Magazine described Bernanke as “the most powerful nerd on the planet.” While at Princeton Bernanke was a leading scholar of the Great Depression. Bernanke concluded that the passive Fed of the 1930′s contributed to the depression, which is precisely why he decided that the Federal Reserve could not afford to be passive during this financial crisis. Most definitely this severe economic recession that dominated the news in 2009 could have been another depression, but Time Magazine, as well as many others, believe Bernanke helped stop that depression. He led the charge in reshaping monetary policy and injected millions of dollars into an economy that was screaming for help from somewhere.

Personally I find Bernanke to be a solid choice as Person of the Year for 2009. Bernanke gets little credit for his understanding of Main Street, but he really isn’t a Wall Street man by heart. In Time Magazine’s interview of him Bernanke says “I understand why people are frustrated, I’m frustrated too.” He goes on to say, “This is all very real to me,” and lets the world know he understands this isn’t a video game or anything to be messing around with. Probably the best quote of them all from the interview is “I’m not happy with where we are, but it’s a lot better than where we could be.” I couldn’t agree more with the Fed Chairman on that quote. While our economy isn’t in a good place, things looked as if they could get much worse. There will definitely be different challenges going forward, but in 2009 Bernanke did a solid job at the helm.

The big news from the financial world today is that President Barack Obama has nominated Ben Bernanke for a Second Term as Federal Reserve Chief. With Bernanke standing at his side today Obama spoke of Bernanke’s wisdom and calm guiding hand through the economic storm of the past year. Reports are that President Obama thought it would be wise to keep Bernanke and the financial team that has weathered the crisis together for the foreseeable future.

Ben Bernanke’s approval to a second term as Federal Reserve Chairman isn’t completed until the Senate approves it. Senate Banking Committee leader Chris Dodd did indeed endorse the approval of Bernanke’s second term today, but he and others around Capital Hill said that there is no doubt that Bernanke will be questioned thoroughly and it could well get quite contentious at times. The moves that the Federal Reserve has made to help the economic are extremely unpopular with some in the Senate as well as with many of their constituents at home, so one can expect that Bernanke will be grilled before ever being appointed for his second term, which would commence on January 31st of 2010.

The majority of Senators will likely end up voting for a reappointment of Bernanke, so while the questioning will be tough, we can expect Ben Bernanke to serve a second term as Federal Reserve Chairman. The role of the Federal Reserve in the potential rebound of the American economy will be a huge one, so we will need to keep a close eye on what goes on with Bernanke and the rest of the Federal Reserve. A second term for Ben Bernanke likely means stabilization for the market at least at first, but only time will tell what the long-term picture will look like. Let’s hope that economic stabilization and eventually consistent economic growth are in the future.