ODD SORT OF RADICALISM:

Dems split over Treasury choice (LISA LERER & VICTORIA MCGRANE, 11/7/08, Politico)

As Barack Obama faces mounting pressure to announce his economic team, Democrats are split over two of the leading candidates for Treasury secretary: New York Federal Reserve Chairman Timothy Geithner and former Clinton Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers. [...]

Summers, who is widely acknowledged to be seeking the top Treasury post, has a strong connection to the Obama team and a long history of government service. Obama economic aides said that Summers was one of ten advisers on a weekly conference call with the campaign over the past few months.

His experience, however, has a downside for a campaign that sold Americans on a message of change. In the Clinton administration, Summers was a major proponent of free trade, deregulation and free market-oriented policies, which have come under fire in recent months as the economy has spiraled downward.

But even former critics note that in the seven years since he’s left government, Summers has taken a more progressive stance on economic issues. In a regular Financial Times column, he’s pushed for greater financial regulation, restrictions on trade and closing the income gap.

“He didn’t understand that stuff five years ago, but he does now,” said a liberal economist and distant Obama adviser. “A lot of times you have the Greenspan problem, where you get to a point in your economic life and you can’t evolve even if the data tells you too.”

While Summers is widely acknowledged to be a brilliant economist, he carries a history of public relations dust-ups that stem from a prickly interpersonal style, according to friends and colleagues.

He was forced out as president of Harvard University after a series of statements that angered affirmative action proponents, environmentalists and feminist activists. The final straw was when he said that innate differences between men and women might be one reason fewer women succeed in science and math careers

While not a disqualifying factor, the incidents would certainly lead to some tough confirmation hearing questioning and could undermine the new administration’s judgment on critical personal.

Geithner touted for top post at Treasury: N.Y. Fed chief savvy to crisis (David R. Sands, November 7, 2008, Washington Times)

Mr. Geithner, 47, is two weeks younger than the president-elect but has served in top Treasury and Federal Reserve positions since the late 1980s. He joined Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke to oversee the Bush administration's effort to contain the crises in the world's credit and financial markets. [...]

The New York Fed is considered the most influential of the regional Federal Reserve Banks. By virtue of his position, Mr. Geithner serves as vice chairman of the central bank's Federal Open Market Committee, the key body guiding monetary policy.

Like Mr. Obama, Mr. Geithner is described by colleagues as even-tempered and wonkish at times, comfortable debating abstract financial concepts and not likely to break the bureaucratic crockery as an administrator.

Mr. Summers would be a finger in the eye of feminists/academics and especially amusing.

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Posted by Orrin Judd at November 7, 2008 9:06 AM