Where Larry Summers Went Wrong

If I were Lawrence Summers, I’d feel free to start planning my winter vacation for 2014, and my summer one as well. With today’s stinging lead editorial in the Times calling on President Obama to pick Janet Yellen as the next chair of the Federal Reserve, the chances of Big Larry heading down to Foggy Bottom next February, after Ben Bernanke retires, are fast diminishing.

Just a week after Wonkblog’s Ezra Klein reported that Summers had emerged as the favorite for the Fed job, three key elements in the Obama coalition—progressive Democrats in the Senate, the women’s movement, and the liberal media—have lined up squarely against Summers and in favor of Yellen, who would be the first woman to head the Fed. As the objections to Summers have multiplied, the White House has appeared to backtrack. Late last week, it put out word that no decision had been made on the Fed nomination, and that there wouldn’t be one until the fall, which probably means mid-September. Of course, Obama may still defy the liberals and progressives to appoint Summers, who served as his top economic adviser during his first two years in office, but I wouldn’t even bet Monopoly money on it.

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