President Obama is waging a new war. The target: bubbles.

I’m not kidding. Yesterday, Bloomberg outlined how Obama has spent the past week talking about avoiding “artificial bubbles”. The problem with fighting a war-on-bubbles is that they’re impossible to identify. Even if you think you have found one, you’ll never get a consensus that it exists, let alone find a solution.

In any case, in Obama-world the chief general in this new war will be the next Federal Reserve Chairman. On Aug 9, Obama said he wants a Fed chairman who “makes sure that we’re not seeing artificial bubbles.”

It takes quite an intellectual leap but somehow this is being twisted to mean Yellen won’t be the next Fed Chairman. A weekend profile of Yellen showed “she is methodical, not manic. And the prevailing style of the White House insiders advising on the decision leans a bit more toward manic.”

I’m not particularly disposed to Yellen or Summers and I don’t think markets particularly care but here’s the basic message to the quiet, sort-of liberal campaign for Yellen.

Sorry Janet