Larry Summers Falls Asleep During Credit Card Industry Meeting (SLIDESHOW)

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From the department of "it-can-happen-to-anyone," President Obama's chief economic adviser Larry Summers apparently fell asleep during a high-profile meeting with credit card industry officials in the White House on Thursday. From the pool report comes this nugget:

"One thing to note is that Summers appeared to be nodding off near the beginning of Obama's remarks. And then he DID nod off, doing the head on the hand and then head falling off the hand thing. Photogs seemed to be having a field day. All other officials in the room appeared fully awake."

Among embarrassing snoozes, this one should rank moderately high -- though not quite as bad as Bill Clinton falling asleep during an MLK Day speech last year, nor Ronald Reagan dozing off while meeting with the Pope.

Also, Summers seems to have a mild narcoleptic issue. He fell asleep during a White House economic forum this past February. The New Republic reported recently that "Summers functions on exceedingly little sleep.... To power through the day, Summers relies on a punishing Diet Coke regimen. The combination of fatigue and extreme caffeine intake can produce the occasional verbal and physical tic: Summers is a chronic foot-tapper and sometimes turns over words and clauses like an engine that won't start."

In a prescient piece titled, "Memo To Obama's Economic Team: Get Some Sleep!" Arianna Huffington wrote:

The notion that driving yourself to the point of exhaustion and chronic foot-tapping is a sign of commitment and achievement is as obsolete as the belief that pumping more money into the same institutions that created the crisis will solve it.

Summers' old boss, Bill Clinton, once said, "Every important mistake I've made in my life, I've made because I was too tired."

Many Wall Street high-flyers could echo this -- if they had any self-awareness. Instead, they subscribe to our culture's veneration of exhaustion. Rolling Stone's Matt Taibbi describes how Wall Streeters, when challenged, "talk about how hard they work, the 90-hour weeks, the stress, the failed marriages, the hemorrhoids and gallstones they all get before they hit 40."

The country would be better off if Wall Street execs and, more importantly, Summers and Treasury Secretary Geithner -- who, we are admiringly told, works 15 hours a day -- knocked off early and came back to work the next day refreshed... and with some fresh ideas.

• • • • Larry Summers rubs his eyes during a meeting at the White House on April 23.

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Comments

[WorldPeaceService]

02:01 PM on 04/28/2009

This article is so obsurd. Who cares if he fell asleep. These Obama staffers work egregiously long hours. A littel snooze once in a while is no big deal. He's not the president. What about Reagan falling asleep at a meeting while he was in office? Nobody talks about that except the author of this blog!

[PhilipTaylor]

10:33 PM on 04/27/2009

Is it TIME to remove "Sleepy and Pleasy" of Wall Street and get an ADULT who sees the BIG Picture?

1. PhD who has written prize winning books and articles
2. Has friends on Main Street and is loyal to them
3. Has no financial or cultural link to Wall Street
4. Relies on FACTS and is willing to think "outside the box" at what is best for ALL America
5. Will be respected by other Non-Wall Street Experts
6. Willing to stand up to a Congress that took $5 Billion from Wall Street

TIME FOR CHANGE WE CAN BELIEVE IN PRESIDENT OBAMA!

[arcanepsyche]

05:34 PM on 04/25/2009

I think it's pretty obvious that this meeting they were having was about things that Summers already knew about. I'm not defending him, but there's really no reason for him to be awake. Everything is done via memo in Washington anyway.

[artistonhill]

02:37 PM on 04/25/2009

don't you wonder what subject would keep him conscious? Also exactly whom he has respect for?

[Bystander]

01:46 PM on 04/25/2009

He can't do any damage while he's sleeping. Pass the sleeping pills around the table, Larry! Pleasant dreams.

[AbyGail]

06:28 AM on 04/25/2009

Even funnier than Boris Yeltsin peeing on the tarmac.

[AbyGail]

06:20 AM on 04/25/2009

Hey, let him sleep. He's no better awake.

[kshawNCvoter]

08:31 PM on 04/24/2009

wutever.....trying to fix this mess Bush and that evil clown, dick cheney left behind, would drain anybody. bless him and our president , the whole administration and the usa.

[delta7777]

03:30 PM on 04/24/2009

probably takes $135,000 per lecture as paid by banking moguls to keep him awake

[fem56]

02:19 PM on 04/24/2009

http://www.slate.com/id/2112570/
This is an excellent article explaining what Laurance Summer was really saying at Harvard. I am a woman and don't expect or want to be just like a man. That doesn't make us inferior but it doesn't make us superior or equal at everything.

[TrekBear]

02:17 PM on 04/24/2009

Summers: "You lost me at LIBOR plus administrative fees."

[kapalabhati]

04:56 PM on 04/24/2009

LOL. Could've been Ebitda. I feel his pain.

[fem56]

01:33 PM on 04/24/2009

Summers and the Obama administration did not cause this mess. He is working enormous hours helping us all out. Then he gets hassled about this and that from so many. Things he said when he was president of Harvard get twisted. Even if you don't agree with everything he is doing, how about a thank you and please Summer get some sleep.

[tommyboy41588]

01:01 PM on 04/24/2009

Get the f**k up!

[hollywoodjaxx]

12:23 PM on 04/24/2009

GET OUT THE ELECTRODES!

[NedFlanders19]

11:41 AM on 04/24/2009

In his defense, since the same guys who helped to create this mess (bernanke and geithner) are running the economic and financial arenas something tragically funny has happened. Many of the posts have not been filled because the candidates cannot get through the vetting process. Some won't even apply because they know the questions will be too tough. So Summers doesn't have a whole lot of help, thus he passes out. If you wanna check it out, go for it, as this came up in a non internet discussion so I don't have linkage. This is what happens when the fox is given control of the henhouse.

[Marie62866]

12:28 PM on 04/24/2009

I don't think it was Bernake and Geithner that caused this mess.! I think that would be Bernake and Paulsen! You know the Bush admin!

It takes a while to get all post filled and Obama has filled his post faster than Bush and Clinton!
If the Republicans, ya know the ones that have no ideas would quit attempting to block everyone for no reason than maybe the post would get filled!