American consumers have another watchdog in their corner, finally.

President Barack Obama did what he had to do, bypassing the Senate to appoint Richard Cordray, a former Ohio attorney general, as the first director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

The new agency is one of the key reforms that resulted from the Wall Street meltdown – and the revelations about recklessly greedy behavior by the nation's financial institutions that at least worsened the damage. It is supposed to guard against deceptive, abusive and predatory practices in the financial marketplace, including mortgages, credit cards, check-cashing services and payday loans. Let's just say the agency will have no shortage of work.

Predictably, Republicans reacted with overwrought protests to Obama's move on Wednesday. Doing the bidding of deep-pocketed financial interests, they have been unable to overturn the law setting up the agency, which was created in July. So they have been stonewalling a confirmation vote on Cordray. They don't even pretend he is unqualified.

In fact, Cordray is well-suited for the job. He built a track record of fighting on behalf of Ohio consumers and is supported by Elizabeth Warren, who proposed and set up the bureau for the president and is now running for the U.S. Senate in Massachusetts.

Without the 60-vote supermajority in the Senate to get a confirmation vote, Obama finally got the grit to use his power to make appointments while the Senate is in recess.

Almost certainly, opponents will go to court to try to block Cordray, arguing that presidents traditionally don't make such appointments until the Senate has been in recess for at least 10 days and that the Senate is technically not in recess because it has been holding pro forma sessions every few days.

In the most recent case on the issue, however, the courts upheld President George W. Bush's right to appoint a federal appeals judge though the Senate hadn't been in recess for 10 days. What's allowed for a Republican president should certainly be permitted for a Democrat.

Obama has many more nominees, more than 180, bottled up for all manner of important positions. Unfortunately, his decision to forgo formal Senate approval for Cordray – as well as three vacancies he filled Wednesday on the National Labor Relations Board – is likely to make it more difficult to win confirmation for other key financial posts, including chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

That said, Obama made the right decision for consumers, even if it further damages his relations with House and Senate Republicans. Americans who have become victims of the financial industry should be outraged that some in Congress continue to cater to wealthy and unscrupulous lenders who helped bring our economy to its knees.

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