I have to disagree with
Ezra Klein: Obama's got a much, much better economics team than Bush started out with. I agree with his endorsement of Glenn Hubbard. But Paul O'Neill wasn't exactly an a-lister even before he turned out to have fantastic(ally entertaining!) verbal impulse control problems. And Larry Lindsay did not match up to Larry Summers in stature, though of course what he got fired for was not being incompetent, but telling the truth. Bush's second term team has actually been pretty stellar, but his first term left a lot to be desired. Unfortunately, Bush's second term team--and the incoming Obama team--have had a lot higher hurdles to jump.
O'Neil had been a deputy at OMB, been chairman at RAND, and CEO of Alcoa. Not bad, certainly.
Unrelated: Your "Of the Week" features in the sidebar are more seasonal than weekly. The Marcotte quote is from July.
I confess to only being partly informed on Obamas team. All I really know is that they have been in the game for a while now, and the only better options mentioned do not tower over them (Volker yes, but I think he's quite happy with a part-time gig at his age).
If you're going by credentials, both O'Neill and Paulson would seem to rank a good bit higher than Geithner. Being CEO at either Goldman Sachs or Alcoa is a much higher spot on the greasy pole than head of the New York Federal Reserve Bank. If you're going by performance, then it's a little too soon to tell.
Also, you have to look at the rest of the administration. Surely everyone agrees that an A/G from Chicago towers over one from Columbia.
I was fortunate enough to meet Larry Lindsay this spring and see his presentation on the current macroeconomic picture. Essentially, he said that the economy is going to hell because the whole country has been borrowing far too much. Somehow I doubt that this would be a particularly welcome view in the Bush administration even if he had been willing to lie to the public on Bush's behalf.
The Treasury Secretary is going to have an impressive line of credit and Geithner is reassuring as a choice. For energy policy, I hope we can get past barely break even projects and get to nuclear energy.
I think the relevant analogy would be to Bush's foreign policy team. That is where he had his all-stars, and that is where he ran into trouble.
So with Volcker taking over the CEA job, I'm expecting everyone in comments who blasted liberals and Democrats for being all about racial tokenism to apologize. Eh guys?
Wait now it's saying Volcker is taking over something called ERAB, what the hell is that.
Bush's second term team is stellar? Tell us more about why you think Hennessey is stellar. His bio reads like he is a political hack.
Steve
Freddie,
As I noted in another thread, both major parties have made appointments with an eye toward diversity. Obama -- being 'diverse' himself -- may feel less pressure to make his cabinet look like a Benetton ad. Similarly, since much of Obama's support has been due to his personal appeal rather than due to his policy proposals, he may feel less pressure to appease the left wing of his party. That's my hope, and time will tell if it proves to be the case, but the appointments Obama has announced so far have been more centrist than one might have expected considering Obama's background and voting record in the Senate.
"Bush's second term team is stellar? Tell us more about why you think Hennessey is stellar. His bio reads like he is a political hack."
Steve
Well, there was Greg 'Ignore my textbook' Mankiw for one.