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Obama’s Economic Team

By Karen Tumulty | November 25, 2008 | +

Justin’s take.

UPDATE: And TNR’s Noam Scheiber tells us why Tim Geithner and Larry Summers may be a match made in policy-wonk heaven.:

But, beyond the pairing of person and job, it’s the way these guys complement one another that’s really key here. Geithner is the rare bureaucrat with the smarts and the self-confidence to effectively challenge Summers when he’s off base. As I wrote earlier this month:

Geithner had become a check on the bandwagon-jumping Summers’s intellect could inspire–and which Summers, to his credit, reflexively resisted. “When you’re talking to the Treasury secretary or the under secretary, there’s a strong tendency for everybody to leap on what that person is saying and agree,” says one co-worker. “Tim’s fundamental function was to interrupt that process.”

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  • gysgt213
  • nibblybits

    All I’ll say is that I’m seriously crushing on smart hottie Mr. Geithner. I’m not saying it’s right.

  • jarais

    I’m really disheartened to see Larry Summers as director of NEC. I hope they bring in someone like Joe Stiglitz to smack some sense into him every so often.

  • http://pourmecoffee.blogspot.com pourmecoffee

    Michael Vick should get a bailout. If you bet in secret on harmful activity you get a bailout, right?

  • http://pourmecoffee.blogspot.com pourmecoffee

    You know who else deserves a bailout? Hammer, who was led to believe by deregulation that one couldn’t touch this. KT, you should make a post where people could advocate for bailout recipients. The finale could be an Oprah show where she tells everyone to look under their seats and shouts, “You get a bailout! You get a bailout!” Very exciting!

  • sgwhiteinfla

    poureme
    .
    Guys like Hammer and Vanilla Ice already have a TARP program
    .
    Its called “reality” shows on Fox
    .
    Of course just like AIG once you have them on once the keep coming back for more

  • wvng
  • wvng

    Just watched Obama’s Tuesday press conference. More actual, non-ideological substance than in 8 years of Bush.
    .
    What do you say to that Halperin?

  • sgwhiteinfla

    OT excerpt from Obama
    .

    This isn’t about big government or small government. It’s about building a smarter government that focuses on what works. That is why I will ask my team to think anew and act anew to meet our new challenges. We will go through our federal budget – page by page, line by line – eliminating those programs we don’t need, and insisting that those we do operate in a sensible cost-effective way.

    Let me give you one example of what I’m talking about. There’s a report today that from 2003 to 2006, millionaire farmers received $49 million in crop subsidies even though they were earning more than the $2.5 million cutoff for such subsidies. If this is true, it is a prime example of the kind of waste I intend to end as President.

    And we will also focus on one of the biggest, long-run challenges that our budget faces – namely, the rising cost of health care in both the public and private sectors. This is not just a challenge but also an opportunity to improve the health care that Americans rely on and to bring down the costs that taxpayers, businesses, and families have to pay.

    .

    That is what the OMB will do in my administration – it will not only help design a budget and manage its implementation, it will also help make sure that our government – your government – is more efficient and more effective at serving the American people.

  • wvng
  • wvng

    sgw, be careful, or Halperin will call you out next.
    .
    BTW, still waiting for Joe or KT to respond to Halperin’s comments.
    .
    /Crickets.

  • sgwhiteinfla

    By the way Obama was answering questions and a guy was sitting in the Cubs section yesterday even though he is a life long White Sox fan. And Obama apologized and quipped, “This is also a part of the new way of doing business, when we make mistakes we admit them” I wonder how many talking heads will talk about that.

  • wvng

    KT, I’m really not trying to be a jerk by bringing Halperin up in thread after thread. He called out the media for reporting accurately that one campaign was run brilliantly and honestly and the other was not. You could say that he took a swipe specifically at Joe, who was among the most vocal in his disappointment with McCain.
    .
    It would not be rude to respond. A lack of response can be read as acceptance. It would be easy to lay out the case for why the media wrote about the campaign as “they” did. In fact, such a response could start with Joe’s sudden recognition that McCain, a man he had recently praised, was running a deeply dishonest campaign.
    .
    Frankly, a failure to write with enthusiasm about what was transpiring in front of your/our eyes would be like a sports reporter “phoning in” a story about a no-hitter in the 7th game of the World Series.

  • http://pourmecoffee.blogspot.com pourmecoffee

    @wvng – Halperin’s statement is meaningless. There is no point in engaging it. It’s not even possible to accurately label Swampland’s “bias,” much less “the media’s.” I think ignoring it is the appropriate response. To me, this is like when your kid says “you never let us do anything!” It doesn’t really call for a Powerpoint on granted privileges – just a roll of the eyes.

  • http://justmypointofview.wordpress.com Sheryl

    I’m hoping this team will get it right this time. Summers was a strong backer of deregulation, while Geithner was in on all these bailouts that haven’t steadied the system. Another Day, Another Bailout. Jan. 20th can’t come too soon. Ponder it shall we at http://www.justmypointofview.wordpress.com?

  • wvng

    pourme, I disagree. Strongly. So does Josh: “Halperin should stop complaining, put some limits on pandering to the curdled resentment of the right.”
    http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/245805.php
    .
    This is a zombie lie of the type that becomes CW if you don’t combat it. Before long, the institutional memory of the chattering class will inform them that Obama won because of press bias, and that will tell them that they need to be tougher on dems. And the repubs will push it and push it. Somebody has to push back. Joe would be good at that task.

  • http://pourmecoffee.blogspot.com pourmecoffee

    We’ll have to stay disagreed. I think the answer is to yawn at such generalizations rather than attempt to fine-tune them, but I certainly understand the other side.

  • wvng

    Pourme, if it were not someone of Halperin’s stature, I would agree. But he is part of that rarefied class that defines CW. If not challenged, he’ll keep it up, and pretty soon the sheep will follow.

  • cincinnatus est exterminata!

    RIP MSM
    1980 – 2010
    “I want you to listen to what Bill Kristol wrote in his column today!”
    - Wolf Blitzer

  • cincinnatus est exterminata!

    RIP MSM
    1980 – 2010
    “I want you to listen to what Bill Kristol wrote in his column today!”
    - Wolf Blitzer

  • cincinnatus est exterminata!

    RIP MSM
    1980 – 2010
    “I want you to listen to what Bill Kristol wrote in his column today!”
    - Wolf Blitzer

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