The Short List

http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/22/after-summers-new-economics-chief-could-be-a-c-e-o/?scp=8&sq=Lawrence%20Summers&st=cse

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"The way I measure greatness is ... How many people can you make want to be better?"
(Will Smith)

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So, Lawrence (don't call me "Larry") Summers will be leaving at the end of the year. He is being given credit for being the "chief architect" of the Obama economic policy. Would that be the same as being chief naval architect of the "Titanic?"

We've attached the short list of potential replacements and we note with interest (and "hope") that Anne Mulcahy (the recently retired CEO of Xerox) is a contender. Not only would she bring some common sense to the position, but she would be the first business CEO to be added to the Obama team. In addition, if common sense wasn't enough, she would also bring a sensitivity to diversity which her predecessor clearly lacked (Summers only lasted two years as president of Harvard before he was ousted by a faculty vote of "no confidence" after he argued that differences between the sexes explained why fewer women pursued math and science careers. Actually, that was the immediate proximate cause - he had always been "tone deaf." How he ever became president of Harvard in the first place is beyond me - actually, it had something to do with having been Secretary of the Treasury. But, please...).

President Obama's appointment of Summers in the first place reflected a certain lack of sophistication about Summers' personality as well as the task at hand. Mulcahy suffers no such disadvantages.

Now three members of the original Obama economic team are gone. Treasury Secretary Geithner is referred to as "remaining" as the last of the team but that's only because Summers ignored Paul Volcker, the esteemed former Fed Chairman who is more qualified than the rest of the group put together and is still there. At least Volcker contributed the "Volcker Rule" to the financial reform legislation and is listened to by those who know what they are talking about. Volcker's position has consistently been that the legislation and the original "stimulus" were not enough. Summers failed at everything. Volcker has yet to fail. Mulcahy turned around Xerox when that was thought to be impossible.

Maybe President Obama won't be as tone deaf as his appointment of Lawrence Summers implied. Maybe he'll make a good choice now.