Lawrence Summers Is a White House Playa

Lawrence H. Summers will be Obama's director of his National Economic Council. We all know what a great job Summers did as Harvard President (2001-2006), especially when he theorized about innate differences between women and men that explained the gender gap in the sciences. He did apologize for his insensitive remarks here.

I remember Larry Summers long before his gaffe about women. As chief economist for the World Bank, Summers wrote a December 12, 1991 memo, leaked to the press in February 1992, in which he contemplated the shipment of toxic waste to parts of Africa.

Larry S. must be regretting that intelligence lapse too.

His first sentence underscores a recognition that his idea may be just a wee bit politically sensitive:

Dirty' Industries: Just between you and me, shouldn't the World Bank be encouraging MORE migration of the dirty industries to the LDCs [Less Developed Countries]?

One reason, he opined:

The costs of pollution are likely to be non-linear as the initial increments of pollution probably have very low cost. I've always though that under-populated countries in Africa are vastly UNDER-polluted, their air quality is probably vastly inefficiently low compared to Los Angeles or Mexico City.

Summers was thought earlier to be on the short list for Treasury Secretary, as he once had been under Bill Clinton. As Senior White House advisor to the President, there will be no Congressional hearing examining his appointment. Thus, it falls back on the rest of us to give this Obama administration official the hot spotlight of public scrutiny.

Comments

[cbruno linux]

Summers has been unfairly demonized. He is a brilliant economist. As a brilliant economist Summers is inclined to perform thought experiments (some openly expressed) which are often not endearing to those on the far left (or far right, for that matter). Obama is bringing change-the change of listening to smart, competent people (unlike the previous administration). Summers is brilliant, and lets not let the vocal thought experiments of his past get in the way of leveraging his brilliance out of the current economic mess.

[allonfla]

Hmmmm.....Obama likes people prone to gaffes - ahem..Biden - of course you have to remember that a gaffe is when someone speaks their mind or tells an uncomfortable truth. I've seen mixed reviews about this guy and some of the better ones were from women. I will let these truths keep me comforted : Obama Is In Charge. These People Will Be Implementing Obama's Agenda. Obama Tends Not To Listen To Conventional Wisdom - for example: America is not ready for a Black President and Howard Dean's 50 state stratergy can't work.

[S1m0n]

The problem with Summers isn't that he says what he thinks; the problem is that he thinks what he says.

[HoraceOvidson]

Summers is the kind of guy that says what he really thinks. Which at times can be quite impolitic. On the other hand, a person who tells you what he really thinks would be a good fit for a behind the scenes adviser. Summers should stay away from Meet the Press and any other news shows. No talking to reporters. Summers should have an audience of one person: Barack Obama.