President Barack Obama nominated Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke for a second term on Tuesday, giving a vote of confidence to a key member of the government's economic team as it continues to combat one of the worst financial crises in decades. 

The move also offers a bipartisan action at a time when the health-care policy debate has created a strongly partisan and sometimes ugly political atmosphere.

Speaking while on vacation in Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts, the President said Bernanke’s “background, his temperament, his courage, and his creativity,” has helped prevent a second Great Depression and turned the economy back toward the slow path to recovery. 

Bernanke "approached a financial system on the verge of collapse with calm and wisdom; with bold action and outside-the-box thinking that has helped put the brakes on our economic freefall," the President said.

In very brief remarks, Bernanke thanked the President for “his unwavering support for a strong and independent Federal Reserve system,” possibly a reference to the push by some members of Congress to audit the Fed’s balance sheet, and said it will use his “utmost abilities” to return the country toward economic prosperity.

Bernanke’s reappointment signals Obama feels the general course of economic policy right now is the right one; very few Fed chairman have been re-nominated by a President of the opposite political party. Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, who Bernanke succeeded, was a notable recent exception to the norm.

The move also allows the President to send a message that he wants to work across party lines, coming as it does at a time when debate over health-insurance reform has led to bitterly divisive partisan bickering. Since Bernanke was a Republican appointee, this could be an attempt by the Administration to reiterate that the President works gladly with and listens to the ideas of people from the other party as well as his own.

There had been months of speculation whether Bernanke would be nominated for another four-year term at the helm of the central bank. The Fed chairman was criticized about various aspects of the Fed’s handling of the financial crisis. And among other things, Fed critics such as Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, have called for audits of the Fed, which they say is too shrouded in secrecy and have called for an audit of the Fed's balance sheet.

There was talk that National Economic Council Chairman Lawrence "Larry" Summers might take the position. Indeed, the White House on Monday sought to downplay any speculation of tension regarding those reports, going so far as to say that Summers -- along with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel -- had recommended that Bernanke stay on to ensure "continuity."

However, most experts and policy makers had started to feel Bernanke was best left in the job, rather than changing leaders in the middle of the U.S.’s worst recession in decades.

"There is no reason to change when Bernanke is doing all of the right things," said Wells Fargo U.S. Economist Mark Vintner "The financial markets would have to learn to adjust under a new leader and the last thing we need is more uncertainty."

Bernanke’s term expires on Jan. 31, and his reappointment will require Senate confirmation. He also is serving a 14-year term as a member of the Federal Reserve Board, a term that expires in January 2020.

Bernanke now will oversee a central bank whose powers have vastly expanded beyond what some believe was the agency’s original mission. The central’s bank’s balance sheet has ballooned to more than $2 trillion, partially as the result of the bank’s direct intervention in financial institutions -- notably Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns and American International Group (AIG) -- during the height of the financial crisis. 

Reaction from Capitol Hill indicated that Bernanke is likely to win confirmation.

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), said Bernanke’s reappointment is “probably the right choice” and said there would be a “thorough and comprehensive” confirmation hearing for the Fed chief. "Chairman Bernanke was too slow to act during the early stages of the foreclosure crisis, but he ultimately demonstrated effective leadership and his reappointment sends the right signal to the markets,” Dodd said.

And House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) said, “I strongly support President Obama’s nomination of Ben Bernanke to a second term as Chairman of the Federal Reserve.  One the whole, Chairman Bernanke’s response to the unprecedented economic crisis has been wise and appropriate.  He has acted to provide needed liquidity to the economy and has demonstrated that he is fully ready to reverse course when economic conditions dictate.”

There was Republican support for Bernanke, as well. Senator Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), a member of the Banking Committee, said, “Chairman Bernanke has earned the right to see this through and lead the Federal Reserve through these volatile times... I'm sure he hasn't made all the right calls, but he doesn't have a political cell in his body, and that's what you need in a Fed chairman. I believe he wakes up every day trying to focus on what ought to be done for the good of the country -- not politics." 

But not everyone was so enthusiastic. The Ranking Member of the Banking Committee, Sen. Richard Shelby (R.-Ala.), cautioned that "consideration of Chairman Bernanke’s nomination to serve a second term raises several important issues.  The Banking Committee should carefully examine the impact of the Fed’s failures as a bank regulator, how such failures contributed to the financial crisis, and whether Chairman Bernanke’s performance as the chief regulator merits his reconfirmation."

--FOX Business's Rich Edson and FOX News's Major Garrett and Chad Pergram contributed to this article.