In today’s Washington Post, Steven Pearlstein makes an important point but may have missed the mark.

Mr. Pearlstein correctly cites President Franklin Roosevelt appointment of Joseph Kennedy, as the first SEC Chairman, because the nation needed a Wall Street dealmaker to create a system to stem shady practices and protect investors. Going even further back in time, Alexander Hamilton used his experience with smugglers as a Caribbean Island shipping clerk to create the Coast Guard and insure the collection of tariffs needed to fund the fledging federal government.

Mr. Pearlstein complains that SEC Chair-designate Mary Shapiro is no Joe Kennedy and that we need a Joe Kennedy type to clean up the capital markets. Close, but no cigar-chomping swashbuckler.

Alexander Hamilton and Joe Kennedy both needed to quickly establish new systems from scratch. Essentially, they had to build a brand new ship. The problem we face today is how to making major repairs and renovations while the ship is at sea. A much different, and in some ways, much more difficult task.

In the CCMC principles for financial regulatory reform, we highlight the need to eliminate regulatory dead zones. Our regulators went after flies with sledgehammers and elephants with fly-swatters.  Two years ago, our Commission report stated that the United States financial regulatory architecture was outmoded and our economy is paying the price. 

Mary Shapiro has a unique blend of public and private sector experience that should bode well for this challenge. As a former SEC Commissioner and Chairman of the CFTC, Ms. Shapiro has an understanding of two very different agencies and has emerged as a Washington survivor. As the head of FINRA, Ms. Shapiro has merged the disciplinary arms of two competing exchanges creating a new watch dog on Wall Street.

In developing a smart and coherent system of financial regulation, we need someone who knows the strengths and weaknesses of the current system, and how to make improvements without stifling the spirit of innovation that has spurred our economy to great heights.

Yes the 1930’s may have required a pirate of Wall Street, but our times require something much different. Mary Shapiro’s resume points to the experience we need, lets see if that that translates into the action required.