Summers Is Latest Misplay by Obama's Inept Econ Team

The main question isn't why Larry Summers pulled his name out of the Federal Reserve Chairman derby yesterday, it's "how his candidacy even got this far," writes Heidi Moore at the Guardian. Many prominent senators openly opposed his nomination, as did 300 economists. From the beginning, it should have been crystal clear to President Obama "that tying his fortunes to Summers would have been akin to tying two rocks together to see if they float." But that was not clear to Obama's economic team.

Most of Obama's advisers have worked together since the Clinton years, and backed their old pal Summers "to get the band together again." But this isn't a dream team; under its tutelage, Obama has produced a "litany of failure." He hasn't passed a stimulus since 2009, reduced inequality, passed a food stamp extension, or improved employment. Yet Obama seems blithely unaware of this, peppering speeches with "self-congratulatory" references to recovery. "Maybe he should stop relying on those he knows, and rely instead on those who know what they're doing." Click for Moore's full column. (More Larry Summers stories.)