I have had it reported to me – at third hand, which means that you can ignore the rest of this post forthwith with no complaints from me, if you like – that Senator Barack Obama is thinking about offering the Secretary of the Treasury position in his hypothetical administration to former Harvard President Laurence Summers. He’s one of Obama’s economic advisors, which certainly puts him on the short list – so let’s talk about it a little.

Laurence Summers is, of course, an economist (he was one of Clinton’s SEcTreas, in fact, so he’s clearly familiar with the job description). He’s been long linked with being pro-globalization and free trade (this particular article may represent a clarification of those stances, but it doesn’t exactly qualify as a walk-back): his other laudable qualities also include a refreshing willingness to acknowledge the links between Israeli divestment efforts and anti-Semitism; his open support of the Harvard ROTC program; and, of course, his attempt, however clumsy and ultimately futile, to actually not have to take people like Cornell West seriously in public. Put all another way, this would actually be a good choice by Senator Obama, should he win the election: the markets really want some reassurance that he’s not going to listen to the progressives on economic policy, and Summers would be a sign that, yes, Obama takes them no more seriously than you, I, or any other sane human being. Not a perfect choice (one of my colleagues calls it ‘a least-bad choice’, in fact), but not the worst one in the world, either.

Moe Lane

PS: Bringing up an old dispute: while personally I (as the husband of a woman with a doctorate in aerospace engineering) find Summers’ musings on “issues of intrinsic aptitude” to be at best slightly problematic, his views on this issue will of course have no effect on Obama’s decision one way or the other. Those comments of Summers were made in 2005, when Left-feminism still made some pretense to adhering to its publicly avowed goals and beliefs; but this is 2008, and things have changed. Most notably, this election cycle has destroyed the credibility of gender feminists as being anything but fully-controlled servants of the Democratic Party for once and for all. If Summers gets the nod, expect no outrage from his old foes. In fact, I expect that Barack Obama will expect them to praise him for his decision.

And they no doubt will.