Obama breaks vacation, keeps Bernanke at Fed

OAK BLUFFS, Mass. (AP) — Praising him as the man who shepherded the United States past the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, President Barack Obama on Tuesday announced plans to keep Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke in his job for another term.

Bernanke, credited with guiding the economy away from its worst recession since the 1930s, now faces the challenge of meeting the White House expectations to guide an economic recovery critical to Obama's legacy. Widely lauded for taking aggressive action to avert an economic catastrophe after the financial meltdown last year, Bernanke stood beside the president - and before reporters - while Obama took a brief break from his summer vacation on the island of Martha's Vineyard off the coast of Massachusetts.

"Ben approached a financial system on the verge of collapse with calm and wisdom; with bold action and outside-the-box thinking that has helped put the brakes on our economic freefall," Obama said. "Almost none of the decisions he or any of us made have been easy."

In sticking with Bernanke, Obama is looking to reassure the financial sector as well as foreign central banks that his administration has no plans to change course on its largely well-received approach to rescuing the industry from its meltdown or its management of overall monetary policy.

Bernanke masterminded what is now seen as a successful strategy to lift the economy out of recession, unlock credit and stabilize financial markets, in part by using unconventional and unprecedented lending programs. But he's not without his detractors, and the top Democrat on the Senate banking committee warned of a thorough hearing before Bernanke would take his post for a second time.