Arianna: Obama overruled Summers on unemployment benefits

[Enrique]

From her review of the Plouffe book:

How could a president whose North Star as a candidate was that he "would not forget the middle class" choose as his chief economic advisor a man who recently argued against extending unemployment benefits in the middle of the worst economic times since the Great Depression?

I'm referring, of course, to Larry Summers. According to a White House official I spoke with -- later confirmed by sources in the White House and on the Hill -- Summers was against the extension. And it took a lot of Congressional pushing back behind the scenes for the president to overrule him.

And, according to another senior White House official, when foreclosures or job numbers come up at the regular White House morning meeting, Summers' response is that nothing can be done. Nothing can be done about skyrocketing foreclosures or lost jobs.

Nothing can be done -- pretty much the opposite of "Yes we can," isn't it?

According to Plouffe, "reform is in Obama's DNA." Then how do you have in your inner circle a man who has "nothing can be done" in his DNA? Unless, of course, the problem on the table has to do with Wall Street, in which case "everything can be done, has been done, and will be done."

Obviously, an administration needs to hire people who weren't part of the campaign. But the danger comes in hiring those who don't even share the goals of the campaign. That's why The Audacity to Win is so desperately needed right now.


Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/obama-one-year-later-the_b_343209.html

[Pirate Smile]

1. Arianna has little to no credibility with me.

[emulatorloo]

9. I remember back when she was an Ann Coulter Wannabe.

[MadMaddie]

26. I have been wondering what crawled up her backside lately!

She is negative Obama all of the time now.

[WI_DEM]

2. Simple, Obama likes getting different advice and making up his own mind--he isn't afraid of debate,

neither was FDR whose original choice for Treasury secretary was a southern conservative Democrat and JFK whose treasury secretary was a republican. Of course Summers isn't Treasury, but top Economic advisor.

[Enrique]

3. and who's in there fighting Summers?

when Summers says we're going to have to live with high unemployment for a while, who's arguing let's not accept it like that, let's do EVERYTHING we can to get it down?

[geek tragedy]

5. Besides Barack Obama? nt

[Hippo_Tron]

13. Somebody who has enough respect for the President not to take a curtain call

Could be any number of people: Valerie Jarrett, Joe Biden, Hilda Solis. Hopefully we will never know because these deliberations among White House staffers are supposed to be private.

[Enrique]

20. I hope Solis is holding her own

she was a strong advocate of EFCA, which Summers and Geithner have apparently stalled or possibly killed. Hopefully Solis can convince Obama to get it moving again.

I disagree that we shouldn't know any of the internal goings-on. I want to know as much as the reporters can dig up.

[Hippo_Tron]

28. So do you like that General McCrhystal is going out publicly and pushing his agenda?

Because that is what one is essentially doing when they discuss with the advice they have given the President with reporters.

[Thrill]

16. I believe Bernsteirn and Romer are in all those meetings

.

[HughMoran]

19. He may be a dick, but you can't just "employ" people because you want to

Someone has to pay the taxes/interest on the debt for the stimulus - there's only so many jobs the government can create directly. Having incentives for business activity might help, but it'll take time - especially with the lack of credit available at this time.

[girl gone mad]

24. Why not?

We had no problem finding $23.7 Trillion to prop up the zombie banking sector. What's a few trillion more to prop up zombie workers?

[dflprincess]

14. Unless the topic is single payer

then he doesn't want to hear any differing opinions.

[HughMoran]

21. touche'

Did it make you feel good to get that jab in?

[dflprincess]

29. Yes, yes it did.

Besides, it just isn't right to perpetuate the myth that Obama listens to all sides and that's what I was responding to.

[rollingrock]

25. Singing a different tune?

Candidate Obama: 'the greatest risk we can take is to try the same old politics with the same old players and expect a different result.'

President Obama: 'I shall do just that.'

[geek tragedy]

4. Dear god. Obama did the right thing, made the right call

after listening to all his advisors, and people still whine.

[Enrique]

6. Holy Christ, Arianna reports something good about Obama

and people still whine.

[PretzelWarrior]

7. it's the way she reports it. minor kudo--he made good call. major attack..

he has wide group of advisors who often present differing views.

[coconut22]

15. I knew she was up to something when..

she threw out that shit about Biden should resign if Obama doesn't consider the plan she thinks she knows about for Afghanistan. She throws out something everyday trying to stir up a controversy but to me that one was a little over the top.

[high density]

23. She basically demands a left version of Bush...

...that surrounds himself with nobody but yes men. We knew Obama was not that guy when we voted for him.

[ej510]

8. We do not need Arianna Huffington to tell us this. We already knew Summers and Geithner

were Wall St. whores who love to rob main street.

[Enrique]

10. new facts are always helpful

so we can continually revise our opinions. Maybe something will come up that makes Larry and Timmy look good. It hasn't happen yet but it could...

[still_one]

12. I don't care for her either, but what is, is /nt

[still_one]

11. I argued that very point, and the argument I got was that you hire the people

who helped create the crisis we are in because they are intimately familar with the situation, and would know how to get us out of it

I disagree

[Thrill]

17. This may be true. But I don't believe a thing that comes out of her mouth.

.

[Zynx]

18. Summers was one of the architects of what became the modern economic consensus.

Academic economists basically conceded the idea that markets equilibrate on their own, with no good reason to concede that debate. It was like they weer compromising with the Friedmanites just for the sake of doing so.

[iceman66]

22. Sooner or later, Obama will wise up and replace Summers and Geithner

I just hope its sooner, rather than later.

[polichick]

27. Sure hope you're right! nt

[w4rma]

30. Summers should have never been hired for this job. He has given exactly wrong advice every time. nt