The hearing of the confirmation is a water down version of Public Critique in the Chinese Cultural Revolution. Sitting alone in a long table, Bernanke was confronted by the hostile senators of the Banking Committee though they claimed it was not his failure but the failure of the Fed.
 
Besides the amusement, there are discussion of serious issues that worth the listening. I highlight two issues here.
 
 
The Lost of Independence of Fed within the Government
 
In Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2009(H.R. 1207), the Fed's exemption from GAO auditing on monetary issue passed by Congress in 1978 will be repealed. It now has 317 cosponsors in House (out of 435 total numbers) which almost guarantee its passage once it is voted on the floor. In Senate, Chris Dodd, the Chairman of Banking Committee, introduced a similar proposal.
 
This particular amendment is not likely to be water down in the congress. The only bipartisan consensus in congress is to increase the power the congress. Considering the magnitude of fund available to Fed, both parties will not let this opportunity slip away. So my guess is that Fed will partly lose its independence within the government no later than the end of 2010 when the financial regulation reform ends.
 
It is to my surprise to learn that Fed did not gain the independence until 1978 when the inflation issue gained national priority in the poll, according to the clip from "The 27th Annual Monetary Conference: Restoring Global Financial Stability" hosted by Cato Institute, where the evolving independence of Fed is discussed at detail. A more fundamental question raised by this clip is the legitimacy of the priority of the inflation rate. If the obsession with the inflation is the political legacy of the 1970s and 1980s, do we still want to prioritize it in the future? If the answer is negative, then what kind of policy goal shall the central bank pursue?
 
 
Weak Dollar is OK?
 
"There are complaints about United States monetary policy contributing to bubbles abroad. I think it needs to be understood that United States monetary policy  ARE INTENT TO ADDRESS THE MONETARY ISSUES WITHIN THE UNITED STATES, foreign countries have their own tools to address their own bubbles and economy, including currency policy, monetary policy and fiscal policy. So it is not United States's responsibility to make sure that there are misalignment around the world when they have their own tools to address them."

                                                                                                                         --Bernanke's response to Chris Dodd's Q
 
If my memory does not fail me, Geithner commented early that he is Ok with the current direction of the Dollar, which is not strong in the definition of everyone else except the U.S. Treasury Department. The Bernanke's comment further confirmed that United States would not assume the responsibility as the beneficiary of the dollar's status as the international foreign reserve, as it had done in the 1970s to shake off the golden standard. United States has switched into the trajectory of domestic priority.
 
Especially, I think Bernanke's comment is a disguised response to the Chinese critique made by Liu Mingkang, though the original question concerns Europe rather than China. It could be over-shooting to argue that the reason why currency policy came first to Bernanke's mind is that China is the imaginary opponent.
 
If weak dollar is OK with United States for a while, what shall be China's response?
 
For Fun: the Moment of Zen
"You are the definition of Moral Hazard."
                                  --R. Sen. Jim Bunning criticizing Bernanke's bail out decision