Obama admin considering replacing Summers with "prominent corporate executive"

[Frank Booth]

White House officials expect Lawrence Summers to leave his job as the president’s National Economic Council director after November’s congressional elections, according to three people familiar with the matter.
---
Administration officials are weighing whether to put a prominent corporate executive in the NEC director’s job to counter criticism that the administration is anti-business, one person familiar with White House discussions said. White House aides are also eager to name a woman to serve in a high-level position, two people said. They also are concerned about finding someone with Summers’ experience and stature, one person said.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-09-21/summers-may-leave-as-head-of-obama-s-national-economic-council-in-november.html

It's an anonymous source, but seeing as how the entire story's based on anonymous sources, I don't think it's any less reliable than the rest of it.

[laughingliberal]

1. *Sigh* K&R. eom

[Newsjock]

2. Sell it to Meg Whitman

Say, $150 million or so. She can handle it. Gets her out of the governor's race, and it gives our military enough money to blow more shit up for another three days or so.

[BurtWorm]

3. Someone in that administration is a fucking loose-lipped loudmouth

and I hope he's wrong and gets punished for it.

[Capitalocracy]

13. Typical whistleblower-bashing. nt

[BurtWorm]

14. I know, right?

:eyes:

Oh, it's *me* you're talking about! Why, I oughta...

[tavalon]

40. Rahm, you mean, right?

[BurtWorm]

49. Or Axelrod.

That is what I was thinking.

PS: Some "whistleblowers," huh?

[laughingliberal]

52. He's probably right & will be in trouble for leaking while Obama is burnishing his populist cred. nt

[librechik]

4. oh great. That shit works really well. NOT.

Can we get up to speed Mr. President? We HATE Corporatists. They caused this problem and DON'T want to solve it, because they and their class make SOOOOoooo much money off it. Please, please, appoint an adversary to the corporatists. That's what we need.

Holding my breath now ...(not)

[Cal33]

15. I wonder why Obama doesn't appoint someone like Paul

Krugman.

[mmonk]

32. Because he's a "liberal".

[tavalon]

41. Because that would entail not being blind and deaf to the folks who put him in the White House

Surprisingly, being responsive to anyone but businesses and the Republicans appears to be out of his league. He can't hear because of the Beltway Bubble.

[laughingliberal]

54. Because Wall Street and the banksters won't let him. nt

[Cal33]

16. I wonder why Obama doesn't appoint someone like Paul

Krugman.

[MadHound]

5. And the hits just keep coming

:banghead:

[SammyWinstonJack]

11. Business as usual.

:argh:

[LiberalAndProud]

6. Like it will change corporate minds? I don't think so.

I'll take this as rumor for now. Who would be a good candidate?

On edit: Could Laura Tyson generate some excitement here, do you think?

[Frank Booth]

51. "Like it will change corporate minds?" That's one of the truly ridiculous things about this

rumored idea. Of course it won't change corporate minds, and it will just alienate his supposed base even more.

Obama seems to have a pathological need to be liked by people who will never like him no matter what he does.

I've seen bad and good things about Laura Tyson. I'm sure he could do better than her, but he could also probably do worse.

[laughingliberal]

55. Hey. They've got an austerity program to institute.

Can't have any liberals messing up the commitments Obama made to the G-20.

[DJ13]

7. That would prove how tone deaf this WH really is

Everyone criticized Summers for being too cozy with corporate interests, so the onvious anwer is his replacement should be a person with direct corporate interests.

Is this WH trying to completely trash whats left of their reputation as politically smart?

[Fumesucker]

8. Clearly Summers was/is too liberal..

I'm guessing he failed his drug test.

[Dogmudgeon]

9. Anonymous = Most DUers will believe it -- and scream

We'll also get the usual repetitive sarcastic remarks about "Hope and Change", and invocations of the DLC-Illuminati-Bilderberger-Frankenfurter-HAARP Conspiracy To Enslave The People And Keep Marijuana Illegal.

All over a rumor.

--d!

[Forkboy]

42. Lawrence Summers to leave White House post, return to Harvard

Lawrence Summers, the former Harvard president who has been serving as a top economic aide to President Obama during turbulent economic times, plans to return to Harvard as a professor at the end of the year, the White House announced today.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2010/09/larry_summers_t.html

Fucking White House and their rumors.

[DCBob]

10. I think its going to be Google's Eric Schmidt..

He has already been an informal adivisor to Obama and he and the Prez seem to see eye to eye. I think he would be a great choice.

[exboyfil]

20. Not a bad choice

but I would like to more of a entrepreneur, but he does have a nice background.

[exboyfil]

12. This is the complaint I had with Geithner at the time

Absolutely no real world experience.

I don't want some sort of fat cat Wall Street type for Summers position. What I would like to see is someone with a M.S. in Economics or possibly a M.B.A. who established a manufacturing or software company in the U.S. and has watched this business go from nothing to a somewhat large (but not monopolistic large - hear me Bill Gates) business. Ideally the person would no longer have ties to the company (perhaps he is gone off to teach or retired young).

I do not want an investment type. We already have far more of those types than we need.

Someone who has sweated making a payroll. Had to deal with doing business in the U.S. Had to manage through downturns and layoffs. Did not have business handed to him/her on a silver platter. Not a professional manager but a true entrepreneur.

Any suggestions???

[Greyhound]

34. I'd like to see Jim Sinegal in the administration & he is the type that would likely

make the sacrifice to serve his country. He was already paying himself less than President Obama's salary and his bonus compensation is entirely performance based. He knows business & management on a large scale and is more than familiar with fighting the rapacious beasts that run DC.

Of course this will never, ever happen.

[exboyfil]

37. Do you really want a retailer?

Seems we need a wealth creator. Granted Costco is innovative and has done a lot (like Wal-Mart) in the areas of logistics to bring products to customers. Still wealth generation through manufacturing/service seems the area in which we need to focus.

[Greyhound]

46. I don't disagree, but a Mark Herd or Phil Knight wouldn't be an asset, IMO.

So who's left here with the know-how and the status to be asked that wouldn't just advocate more wage/benefit suppression, off-shoring, and outsourcing?

[AnArmyVeteran]

17. Or in other words 'Sell out the people even more!'

Goddamnit. I could do a better job and I certainly would not sell out the people by being a whore to big business.

[exboyfil]

26. Larry Summers - Champion of the little people?

Are you kidding me. He is part of the fascist Goldman Sachs crowd who don't really care if it is a D or an R in the White House. Get someone from Main Street who has actually started and run a business in the U.S. We can't all work for the Federal government or in academia or in an investment house. Most of us have to do work that makes things or provides services that someone is willing to open their wallets for. How can a guy like Tim Geithner, Summers, or Paulson understand that.

Better yet this person should be Treasury Secretary.

[Bitwit1234]

18. Do you all think Obama doesn't like being president and is looking for

a way out. He has just got to be. For a man who had the love and support of us real Americans to do some of the things he has done, supporting mostly the republican view is disheartening. I suppose people will vote for him if he runs in 2012 but he is going to have to CHANGE a hell of a lot of get our votes. I just don't understand the man. He seems to at times lack a backbone and then at other times he tries to kick republican butt.

[Cal33]

25. I just hope Obama is not still obsessed with the idea of

bipartisanship with the right-wingers. If he is, we are finished!

[The Straight Story]

19. What about Fall and Winter?

:evilgrin:

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

21. Begin the thawing of Walt Disney

[itsrobert]

22. The Donald?

Ha ha. Let the inmates run the asylum. That's always good for some laughs.

[Better Believe It]

23. Duplicate Deleted

Deleted

[Better Believe It]

24. How about Dean Baker, Robert Reich, Krugman or some other liberal economist?

Nah. Not a chance.

[exboyfil]

28. How about someone who has

actually started a business that made something that someone else wanted to buy? Had to make a payroll. Had to deal with customers, suppliers, government regulators, the taxman, etc.

Do we really need any more ivory tower types on the economic team? I think we have plenty of that from top to bottom.

[Greyhound]

35. I think an economist would be better suited to Treasury. The NEC needs somebody

running it that knows business. OTOH, the man that nearly bankrupt Harvard was an odd choice to begin with.

[depakid]

58. The NEC needs someone with a history of GETTING IT RIGHT

not some corporate lackey or business owner.

Someone who also has policy proposals that work for the main street and actually solve problems

Dean Baker comes to mind.

[DirkGently]

38. Reich would be a brilliant choice. I hope the "source" is wrong, and the

administration is not more worried about appearing "anti-business" than appearing anti-the-actual-citizenry.

[ProSense]

27. So it wasn't just Summers

or Geithner or Rahm that people wanted out: it's anyone the President appoints?

There isn't even an official announcement, a person's name, anything and the spin to cast the nominee as the next person to hate is underway.

Cut to the chase: why can't some just admit that it's the President they oppose and get on with finding a preferable candidate for 2012?

Why keep dancing around the Bush?

[Odin2005]

29. Translation: "you proles can go fuck yourselves"

[mmonk]

30. Why of course because everyone knows a corporate executive

is an economist.:sarcasm:

[FiveGoodMen]

31. Change that is always for the worse.

[WillyT]

33. :FacePalm:

Jesus...

:banghead:

:wtf:

:beer:

:smoke:

[Tesha]

36. Because there aren't enough corporation-licking assholes in his administration already.

Yeah, that's change.

Tesha

[tavalon]

39. It's different phrasing, but usually the high level anonymous source

is Rahm.

[chill_wind]

43. Laura Tyson seen among potential replacements (Reuters)

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN2118637020100921

No direct sourcing. So take it with a grain of salt.

And meanwhile, search her name on DU.

[rocktivity]

44. Consider the source

Bloomberg, I mean, not the anonymous ones.

:eyes:
rocktivity

[chill_wind]

50. Bloomberg broke the original story. Hans Nichols. n/t

[laughingliberal]

56. Bookmarking. We'll revisit it after someone's named. nt

[dkf]

45. What about Bloomberg?

Might be his best bet and get bloomberg out of his hair.

[Snotcicles]

47. Brooksley E. Born. nt

[guitar man]

48. At least he's consistent

Sounds like a perfect fit for the job









:sarcasm: for the impaired

[marmar]

53. OK....How about Katrina vanden Heuvel.....she's publisher of the Nation.

nt

[progressoid]

57. Aw shit.

More of the same? :banghead:

[Dappleganger]

59. Which one of the bubble blowers

is gonna be the first to paint this as full of HOPE??

[lonestarnot]

60. hugh ugh.