In Fed chair race, Obama's loyalty to Summers could be key

[cali]

The oh-so-subtle behind-the-scenes battle to succeed Ben Bernanke as chairman of the Federal Reserve could come down to something as simple as a conference call.

When candidate Barack Obama was prepping for a crucial meeting in 2008 with President George Bush and his GOP rival, John McCain, in the thick of the fiscal crisis, Larry Summers took a lead role prepping the candidate on urgent economic issues. The meeting proved a turning point for Obama's campaign as he pulled away from Bush in the polls.

<snip>

Not on the calls: Janet Yellen, the other presumed candidate for Fed chair.

As a consummate Washington insider, Summers knows that face time with a presidential candidate—especially one grappling with a crisis—is second in value only to face time with a sitting president. And once he got an office in the West Wing after Obama's 2009 swearing in, Summers had that, too.

<snip>

http://www.cnbc.com/id/100917425

[FreakinDJ]

1. Loyalty to his Wall St. Campaign Doners you mean

[MineralMan]

6. Here is a Doner I I'd love right now:

[DonCoquixote]

2. Barack..listen

I know that when you were going through the ranks, loyalty meant everything; it was the difference between whether you made it, or if you were going to be just another discarded minority. However, if anything, your main problem is that you were too damned loyal to people that did not deserve it, that already plan to blame and discard you once 2016 comes along.

You owe Summers nothing, and people like Bill Clinton know that Washington rewards treachery, meaning Bill would have sent this guy out to the ice floe years ago. The one thing you can do to get your base back is to clean house. yes, Hillary will be angry, as she intends to hire these folks for her "see, you shoulda elected me back in 2008" , yes, Bill will backstab, but frankly, you can pave the way for truly effective government, and be remembered more fondly than Bill.

[JaneyVee]

3. Wall St. Wants Yellen as does Sen. Warren. Never thought they'd agree on anything.

I'd rather Yellen but would prefer Krugman.

[MannyGoldstein]

5. Crash Summers is an equal-opportunity catastrophe

He #%^*s up wverything for everyone.

[forestpath]

4. I guess loyalty to those of us who actually voted him into office is not

ever an option for Obama.

[MotherPetrie]

7. +1

[cthulu2016]

8. Key to unlocking our strategic bullshit reserve, perhaps

Summers thinks he is a politician. He doesn't think in terms of best economic action. He thinks in what he considers 'pragmatic' terms about the big picture. And he is, though a competent economist, usually wrong when he tries to think like shadow president.

He would be an awful choice... an arrogant tinkerer like Greenspan.

IMO.