Since when is it the job of the fed to keep unemployment low? The bernak is starting to sound like the political candidates.

If the Fed behaves like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, it's by design:

What is the Federal Reserve's mandate in setting monetary policy?

The Congress established two key objectives for monetary policy–maximum employment and stable prices–in the Federal Reserve Act. These objectives are sometimes referred to as the Federal Reserve's dual mandate.

This dual mandate is not a problem during "normal times," but it creates a lot of debate during times of economic crises.  I remember a similar discussion during the 1970s, when we had stagflation — high inflation and high unemployment.  Congress (and politicians in general) were using the Fed as their favorite whipping boy back then also.

Then Paul Volcker came in and focused more on the inflation issue and less on the unemployment issue.  He had the backing of Reagan (although Carter first appointed him), which gave him the political cover he needed to do what was necessary with interest rates to bring down inflation.

Volcker raised the federal funds rate, which had averaged 11.2% in 1979, to a peak of 20% in June 1981. The prime rate rose to 21.5% in 1981 as well.

Volcker's Fed elicited the strongest political attacks and most widespread protests in the history of the Federal Reserve (unlike any protests experienced since 1922), due to the effects of the high interest rates on the construction and farming sectors, culminating in indebted farmers driving their tractors onto C Street NW and blockading the Eccles Building.

Maybe the best solution is to end the Fed and go back on the gold standard.  The Government can't print gold when it wants to "pay for" a new entitlement or other pet project.  Perhaps it's time to put The Creature from Jekyll Island back into its bottle so that the expression "as sound as a dollar" means something once again.