Alter's 'The Promise' Epilogue: Obama Team's Dysfunction Prompted Lack Of Focus On Jobs... - HuffPo

[WillyT]

Alter's 'The Promise' Epilogue: Obama Team's Dysfunction Prompted Lack Of Focus On Jobs; Bill Clinton Annoyed At White House
The Huffington Post | Marcus Baram
First Posted: 12-30-10 05:18 PM | Updated: 12-30-10 06:57 PM

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Some revelations about the Obama administration detailed in the new epilogue to the upcoming paperback release of Jonathan Alter's bestseller, "The Promise," probably won't please too many folks at the White House. Alter claims that a dysfunctional relationship between top White House aides hurt the administration's policy on job creation, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was almost dropped from financial reform legislation and was only reinstated after complaints by Elizabeth Warren, and Bill Clinton continually grumbles about being disrespected by the administration.

The Obama administration's perceived failure to take laser-like aim at the unemployment crisis was partly due to the dysfunctional relationship between White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, top economic adviser Larry Summers and senior adviser David Axelrod, specifically the intransigence of Summers, according to Alter:

"The inability to pivot in 2010 to a single-minded focus on jobs was a by-product of what one senior aide called "dysfunction" between Emanuel, Summers, and Axelrod. Rahm had always admired Larry, but he was becoming exasperated with his failure to give him a jobs plan he could sell. 'Week after week, Rahm would say, 'Let's explore this' or 'How about that?' and Larry would slow-walk everything,' recalled one senior advisor. 'He basically doesn't believe in the government helping small business'."

Alter writes that the CFPB survived certain death only because of Warren's commitment:

"The most popular provision of Dodd-Frank almost didn't happen. In late 2009 Elizabeth Warren learned that a proposed bureau of consumer financial protection had been dropped from the bill. She went to the White House to object, and the bureau, to the dismay of predatory lenders, was reinstated."

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More: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/30/alters-the-promise-epilog_n_802866.html

:kick:

[frazzled]

1. If you read what was written ...

The bureau was not just reinstated due to Warren. Congress had written it out. She went to the White House to get it reinstated. They clearly put pressure on senators to get it back for her. The WH deserves equal credit apparently.

[bluestate10]

2. Reason #1 why Summers is out.

The White House needs an economic team that works smoothly as a unit. Smiley Romer is gone, Orzag is gone, the boot is halfway up Summer's ass and will have it the mark in January. Bring on a team of non prima donnas that can craft sound economic policies that allow Obama to implement without dealing with Congressional obstruction.