Obama boosts Fed chief

President Obama championed Bernanke in an interview yesterday as his aides worked the phones to ensure the Fed chairman is confirmed by the Senate. “He has my strongest support. I think he’s done a good job,’’ Obama told ABC News.

“What we need is somebody at the Federal Reserve who can make sure that the progress that we’ve made in stabilizing the economy continues. I think Bernanke is the best person for that job,’’ the president said.

Senate majority leader Harry Reid, Democrat of Nevada, expects a confirmation vote by the end of the week, his spokesman said. David Axelrod, a top White House adviser, said Bernanke has the votes to keep his job.

Bernanke’s brightening prospects provided the White House with a rare bit of good news amid political upheaval caused by public anger over the economy, joblessness, and bank bailouts.

The Federal Reserve, with its power to set interest rates that influence economic activity, employment, and inflation, wields extraordinary influence over the lives of millions of Americans. It also plays a crucial role as the country’s lender of last resort when banks can’t get their money elsewhere.

Bernanke still can count on several “no’’ votes when the Senate takes up his confirmation. But after a surge of opposition late last week, and with many senators still undecided, the tide appeared to be turning in his favor. Amid the news, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 24 points after losing 552 points over the previous trading days.

Senator Joe Lieberman, a Connecticut independent, joined Democratic Senators Max Baucus of Montana, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, and Dianne Feinstein of California in announcing support for Bernanke’s reappointment. Others were quietly falling in line.

“Facing circumstances not seen since the Great Depression, he made a number of critical decisions that brought us back from the brink of economic disaster,’’ Baucus said.

For better or worse, Bernanke has come to embody both the run-up and the response to the financial crisis that peaked in the fall of 2008. Critics blame him for not recognizing trouble signs and for being part of a massive bank bailout; advocates credit him for launching aggressive countermeasures that prevented a financial collapse.