I was busy with the Finny and I missed an email from the White House press secretary.
WASHINGTON – Dr. Lawrence H. Summers, Director of the National Economic Council and Assistant to the President for Economic Policy, announced his plans to return to his position as University Professor at Harvard University at the end of the year.
Dr. Summers is the chief White House advisor to the President on the development and implementation of economic policy. He also leads the President’s daily economic briefing.
“I will always be grateful that at a time of great peril for our country, a man of Larry’s brilliance, experience and judgment was willing to answer the call and lead our economic team. Over the past two years, he has helped guide us from the depths of the worst recession since the 1930s to renewed growth. And while we have much work ahead to repair the damage done by the recession, we are on a better path thanks in no small measure to Larry’s wise counsel. We will miss him here at the White House, but I look forward to soliciting his continued advice and his counsel on an informal basis, and appreciate that he has agreed to serve as a member of the President’s Economic Advisory Board.”
I don’t think I ever wrote a word about Larry Summers.
1.) Love it. I’ve never liked Summers even though I’m fairly favorable of Geithner (don’t need to go over this again, so don’t ask about it 🙂 ).
2.) Jason Furman should replace him.
3.) Have Administration Officials learned nothing?
Yeah, they’ve learned that Citizens United is now the law of the land.
Prominent corporate executive, eh.
I know. It’s going to be a preemptive Ray LaHood-type appointment of Meg Whitman, which clears the way for Jerry Brown to become governor of California (and depresses the GOP vote).</silliness>
You know, I thought of that too. Seriously. I thought “gee, what could they possibly do with this opportunity that would really, really disappoint me?” 🙂
You should read what David Gregory Tweeted after the Summers thing was announced .. I bet Boo saw it. It made everyone who saw it want to pull an Elvis(ie. take a shotgun to your TV).
http://twitter.com/davidgregory/status/25152863990
After Summers does Obama tap someone from business community? Opportunity to ease the tension.
“Ease the tension,” No analysis that this tension is a bunch of garbage from spoiled greedy brats.
Needless to say, FluffyHead got roasted for that.
David Gregory, eternal tool.
[blockquote]I don’t think I ever wrote a word about Larry Summers. [/blockquote]
I did.
“Fire this asshole.”
I can’t wait for his replacement to be savaged for their ties to the economy.
I’m staying home in November because property isn’t theft yet.
We’ll see who it is. And what they advocate for.
I don’t have to wait, Calvin. I know you won’t like them. And you probably will be justified. But that’s the way this country works. Economic policy is set by economic elites. You know, even Christina Romer was an elite. Even Paul Krugman is an elite. He teaches at Princeton, where I grew up going to over to play at houses where the daddy was a CIA officer or a consultant to the CIA on near-eastern policy or the governor or the provost or the head of the English department or one the top astrophysicists in the world. They were qualified people to make top decisions for our country but, no, they weren’t tuned into the needs of the underclass. But you’d pick them before you picked any of this new breed of Republican know-nothing party.
I know that. And I keep asking the same damn question. Why isn’t Roubini or Stiglitz at the Fed(or CEA or Treasury)? And why not Krugman? I know you understand why Warren was .. well you remeber VP Biden’s famous words .. neo-liberal policies aren’t cutting it .. does Obama want to be re-elected in 2012? Then he better start listening to people outside his normal elite circle .. because he’s not going to get re-elected with unemployment above 9% unless he’s running against Palin .. or someone as equally as inept
And now I’ve lost my opportunity to paint his portrait.
You can always go to Harvard …
“I don’t think I ever wrote a word about Larry Summers.”
That must be because you always try to portray the Obama administration in a positive light. Writing about Larry Summers would have made this impossible.
Not really. My opinion on Larry Summers is that he proposed a bunch of disastrous policies during Clinton’s second term that contributed to the financial meltdown a decade later. I also think he’s a jerk, as evidenced by his term at Harvard. But, he was pilloried by the left just for getting the job, prior to any advice that he gave out. Most of the time, we had no idea what kind of advice he was giving because his role isn’t public and he wasn’t testifying before Congress or going on teevee. Nonetheless, it was always Geithner AND Summers that people criticized, as though they had any idea what his advice was. They didn’t.
If he ignored Romer’s advice on the size of the stimulus and didn’t give that information to the president, then he deserves to be criticized for it. But that accusation came out over a year after the decision was made.
I didn’t write about Summers because I never knew what he was doing.