Alan Greenspan is scheduled to retire on January 31, after serving 18 years as chairman of the Federal Reserve. Larry Kudlow sounds happy about the man President Bush nominated today to be his successor:

CEA chair and former Fed governor Ben Bernanke is about to be nominated to succeed Alan Greenspan as Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board.

In my view it is a good choice. Though Mr. Bernanke is not a hardcore advocate of the price rule, he does favor an inflation target, which is the second best option. Noteworthy is the fact that in recent speeches he has emphasized the slow and steady 2 percent zone of core inflation and inflation less energy. So he is not as militant as some of the crazed Fed presidents.

Bernanke does watch financial market indicators such as the inflation-adjusted Treasury bond and the TIPS spread.

Bernanke will also support an extension of Bush’s tax cuts for capital gains and dividends, and he has told me in the past that raising tax rates would only harm the economy.

He is widely respected in the economics profession as a former chairman of the Princeton Economics Department.

Meanwhile, Steve Green writes:

I've been reading up on Bush's pick to replace Alan Greenspan at the Fed. From what I've read this morning, Ben Bernanke seems like a sharp guy with real concern for price stability.

There are, of course, some naysayers, but Bernanke is more of a John Roberts than a Harriet Miers.