Summers Out?

January 5, 2010 Bruce Bartlett

There’s been some blog commentary lately suggesting that NEC director Larry Summers is on his way out. The argument is that there is a White House whispering campaign against him similar to that preceding the departure of WH Counsel Greg Craig. (See here.) I don’t buy it.

First, I don’t see the whispering campaign against Summers as anywhere close to that which preceded the firing of Treasury secretaries Paul O’Neill and John Snow.

Second, I agree with Jim Pethokoukis (here) that there is no one in the wings in a position to replace him. I’m willing to bet that Larry will still be on the job a year from now.

About Bruce Bartlett 76 Articles

Affiliation: Forbes

Bruce Bartlett is a columnist for Forbes.com, the online side of Forbes, the nation’s premier financial magazine.

He served for many years in prominent governmental positions including executive director of the Joint Economic Committee of Congress, Deputy Assistant Secretary for economic policy at the U.S. Treasury Department during the George H.W. Bush Administration, and as a senior policy analyst in the White House for Ronald Reagan.

Bruce is the author of seven books, including the New York Times best-selling Impostor: How George W. Bankrupted America and Betrayed the Reagan Legacy, and thousands of articles in national publications including the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post, New Republic, Fortune and many others. He appears frequently on CNN, CNBC, C-SPAN and Fox News, and has been a guest on both the Daily Show with Jon Stewart and the Colbert Report.

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Summers Out?

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