When the Obama administration recently floated the idea of Larry Summers being President Obama’s nomination for Fed Chairman, a chorus of progressive critics rose up to decry Summers as among the worse of possible choices and lambasted the White House for even considering someone so closely associated with Wall Street largesse and the financial deregulation regime that paved the way for the economic crash of 2008.
In just one example, Robert Scheer, columnist and editor of TruthDig, said the choice made him almost “gag” with displeasure, saying that Summers “is in large measure responsible for [the disappearance of the American middle class], and twice now, after top level economic postings in both the Clinton and Obama administrations, he has returned to gorge himself at the Wall Street trough.”
Despite the waves of criticism, the president himself doubled down on his support for Summers in a closed-door meeting with House Democrats on Wednesday.
According to the New York Times, citing House Democrats who were in the meeting, Obama responded to “a sharp question” from Rep. Ed Perlmutter of Colorado by saying he thought “Mr. Summers had been maligned in the liberal news media.”
The reference by Obama appeared to be about the Huffington Post.
As The Hill reports:
Commenting on being mentioned by the president, the Huffington Post itself reported that Obama “ripped” the online news site for making Summers “a progressive whipping boy.”
Critics of Summers, however, are not only focused on his troubling relationship with Wall Street, but also cite a history of misogyny and derogatory comments about women that they say should give Obama only more reasons to axe him from consideration.
As the Huffington Post reports, female members of Congress as well as women advocacy groups are pushing for Obama to nominate current vice chairman Janet Yellen to the post, not Summers:
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