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RedditYesterday, the Washington Post's excellent Sunday Outlook section featured a "Spring Cleaning Special" in which ten writers were given the chance to make the case for something that deserves to be thrown out this spring.
Slate columnist Farhad Manjoo argues for television's demise. Reporter Thomas Ricks calls for shutting down West Point. Blogger Ana Marie Cox insists we should put the White House press corps out to pasture, and author and Nation columnist Naomi Klein says we should banish Barack Obama's chief economic adviser Larry Summers from public life.
Klein's argument is that Summers is the embodiment of an often overlooked cause of the global financial crisis: Brain Bubbles. This is "the process wherein the intelligence of an inarguably intelligent person is inflated and valued beyond all reason, creating a dangerous accumulation of unhedged risk." Especially in the case of someone like Summers, who, as Klein rightly points out, "has been spectacularly wrong again and again."
Then tell the Washington Post which of the ten things on offer you think should be tossed first. I just voted and the results are showing a strong consensus around Klein's choice.
As Klein writes at the Common Dreams website, "You never voted for him anyway. In fact, chances are that you voted for a presidential candidate promising to reverse the elites-first economics that Larry Summers -- the ultimate Brain Bubble -- has championed his entire career."
So add your voice and vote out Summers here. It'd be a nice symbolic victory and, who knows, maybe Obama reads the WashingtonPost.com.
PS: If you happen to have time on your hands and want to follow me on Twitter -- a micro-blog -- click here. You'll find (slightly) more personal posts, breaking news and lots of links.
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Peter Rothberg
Your guide to expressing informed dissent to war, racism, sexism, environmental degradation and market-based solutions to social problems.
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Come on, PETER, there has to be some word for "beyond Quixotic"???
Posted by Mask at 04/20/2009 @ 3:47pm
From what I'm beginning to gather, how about the rest of his crew, too? They seem like stumblebums.
Posted by debrae at 04/20/2009 @ 5:42pm
Forget about banishing Larry Summers. Who cares about that?
We have a much larger problem. We have a President who does not support the Rule of Law. And will not investigate or prosecute those who have compromised our liberty. We have a President who is no more a Liberal, than I am a Catholic.
We have elected a smooth operator who is doing exactly what the progenitor's of elitist tyranny want him to do.
Put on a liberal face to disarm and charm, and then go ahead with their agenda to suppress the working class into slavery and destroy the middle class. A compliant dupe who will cooperate with those that would deign to rule the world and cement the tyranny of the elite and priviledged.
This President is now even more dangerous than his predescessor. He pretends, in a very convincing manner to be an agent of the people. When in fact he is an agent of the "Business as Usual" crowd.
Voting to re-authorize the Patriot Act. Supporting the illegal wiretapping of U.S. citizens. And refusing to stop the rendition of prisoners and denying the Magna Carta and it's guarantees of habeas corpus. Refusal to prosecute criminals of the previous administration who have violated our constitution and international treaties.
These are heinous crimes that have already been commited by a President who claims to be a "Democrat". He has already dragged us through the mud usually reserved for Republicans. What a disgrace.
And after all this the Nation wants to discuss Larry Summers?
Let us as progressives get our priorities straight and address the Elephant in the living room before we start nitpicking on lesser matters..
Posted by chaoszen at 04/20/2009 @ 6:07pm
"These are heinous crimes..."
Posted by chaoszen at 04/20/2009 @ 6:07pm
Heinous? Heinous crimes?
What are you, a drama queen?
You need to get a grip, introduce yourself to reality, and be HAPPY that McCain/Palin aren't running the show.
Or is it that NOTHING makes you happy?
Posted by Benchrest at 04/20/2009 @ 8:13pm
In a recent conversation with Tariq Ali, I asked, "Do you believe it's fair to refer to Obama as 'capitalism with a friendly face?'" He responded, "If you where Caesar's robes, you do Caesar's bidding."
Posted by debrae at 04/20/2009 @ 8:36pm
Wow, let's throw out Summers but shhhhhh...........don't do anything about the multiple TAX-CHEATS and couple of LOBBYIST'S ( Obama promised none:LIAR)filling this administration! Now that's a liberal's version of "hope", "change we can BELIEVE(lol)in", and, my own little personal favorite...."Transparency"! lol!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by barry25 at 04/20/2009 @ 9:00pm
Vote to banish summers? Sign me up.How the hell did a relatively intelligent man like Obama allow himself to be seduced by Summers and Geithner? I can understand Duncan, not the best arrow in the field but a good shot from outside, but Summers and Geithner? I hate being irreverent but this is really to cute by half.
Posted by julien38 at 04/20/2009 @ 9:51pm
Wow, if Julien38 is a lib.....we've finally located a lib who is willing to actually...and I can't BELIEVE that I'm about to say this...... hold one of their own to ACCOUNT? If so, I say....there's still a glimmer of hope....a GLIMMER! And he/she even blasted little "timmy"? Is this some parrallel universe i'm living in or what. What in the hell just happened. Get julien38 an interview with FOX now....NOW...NOW...While there's still a glimmer of hope! Tell me it's so, jules...tell me it's SO?
Posted by barry25 at 04/20/2009 @ 11:40pm
I just chose Summers for Klein's spring house cleaning after Rothberg's prompting.
I recall negative impressions of Larry Summers as the controversial president at Harvard who had trouble relating to students and faculty.
Then the other night on PBS Newshour he had the opportunity in a friendly extended interview to explain to interested viewers just what the Obama administration was doing to get the financial markets back on their feet.
But he came across as a pompous stuffed shirt, who gave the interviewer trouble. Not the "intelligent, experienced" adviser I want for the president. I learned little about our troubles, but a lot about Summers. -Gord
Posted by gordmett at 04/21/2009 @ 06:41am
I just chose Summers for Klein's spring house cleaning after Rothberg's prompting.
I recall negative impressions of Larry Summers as the controversial president at Harvard who had trouble relating to students and faculty.
Then the other night on PBS Newshour he had the opportunity in a friendly extended interview to explain to interested viewers just what the Obama administration was doing to get the financial markets back on their feet.
But he came across as a pompous stuffed shirt, who gave the interviewer trouble. Not the "intelligent, experienced" adviser I want for the president. I learned little about our troubles, but a lot about Summers. -Gord
Posted by gordmett at 04/21/2009 @ 06:42am
By all means banish the piece of crap.
Why has he been put in any kind of position of authority in the first place. He's proven that he didn't know crap and is one of the main forces behind the complete collapse and economic failure we are seeing today.
Obama rewared this Eff-up by putting him and Geithner into the last place they belonged.
Since these neocon jackasses like to talk so much about economies being patients, let's talk about things in those terms.
If you went to doctor over a sinus infection and he recommended you have your leg removed to cure the sinus infection, would you be likely to go back to this idiot for more advice. I would think not.
Why do these morons in D.C. go back to these neocon aholes? Because they continue to stack the deck for those who put them into office, and it sure as hell isn't the American taxpayers.
Posted by Wolfgang1 at 04/21/2009 @ 06:43am
I've visited the Washington Post website, but I have to say that most of the proposals to "get rid of" things are just silly.
I don't like TV, but I have no illusions that we can just "get rid of" it. Unless the electricity grid perishes, we will always have TV or something like it. I hope the SLATE article is a little more realistic in its proposals than its leading slogan suggests.
"Get rid of" the vice president? Then who becomes the next president if the president dies? Just asking.
Besides, the existence of a vice president is no affront to the principle of democracy, like some other governing structures that I could mention. As I've argued before, we'd do better to abolish the Electoral College and to merge the Senate with the House of Representatives.
Posted by JakobFabian at 04/21/2009 @ 07:19am
Don't get me wrong. I think getting rid of Larry Summers is a fine idea. It just doesn't look very serious as a proposal when it appears alongside others like "get rid of the prom."
Posted by JakobFabian at 04/21/2009 @ 07:44am
"Get rid of" the vice president? Then who becomes the next president if the president dies? Just asking.
Posted by JakobFabian at 04/21/2009 @ 07:19am | ignore this person | warn this person
It's either the Secratary of State or the Speaker of the House.
Posted by ACook at 04/21/2009 @ 12:12pm
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Posted by frosty zoom at 04/21/2009 @ 12:24pm
it's so stupid having to reappoint the whole treasury department every change of administration.
who's helping the geithner?
anyhoo,
fire geithner!
fire summers!
fire gates!
Posted by frosty zoom at 04/21/2009 @ 12:25pm
Sure, banish Summers, include Cheney and Bush too.
"What a fine mess you made, Mr. Banker."
The trouble with the large banks and with Goldman-Sachs in particular, is that it runs the government-as in, Government-Sachs. I, for one, would let G-S,BA,Citi go down the tubes and return government to the taxpayers.
It was not for nothing that President Eisenhower warned of the military industrial complex running the country. Turned out, it's true--now it's called the Wall Street/Pentagon complex.
Who is in charge of all of us? Why, none other than Larry Summers (Wall Street) and Robert Gates (Pentagon). The congress is all bought and paid for, the media is corporate run. Is there a way out of this fine mess?
Posted by hkaplan at 04/21/2009 @ 1:29pm
Peter, your column is described as:
PETER ROTHBERG Your guide to expressing informed dissent to war, racism, sexism, environmental degradation and market-based solutions to social problems.
I love your work and the perspective that you bring to so many important issues. Would you consider adding homophobia to your list of explicit social problems, namely war, racism, sexism, environmental degradation . . . ? Thanks for giving this notion some thought.
And as to Summers, does a leopard ever change its spots? Nope!
Posted by vstead at 04/21/2009 @ 2:10pm
Obama must be aware of the conspiracy to destroy America however,it's not working as they hoped and that is why we all must follow what Obama wants because he knows who the REAL enemy is.
Posted by woskins at 04/21/2009 @ 2:51pm
Could we add Steven Chu (secretary of energy?) to the list of those to be banished? He's like Sarah Palin in drag in wanting our energy future to primarily be based on coal!
I wish that Obama would stop talking about "clean coal". There's NO SUCH THING!! Even with sequestration, you still have to mine the crap.
I'm led to believe that the combination of wind energy, solar energy, tidal energy and geothermal, we'd have all the energy we need.
Please correct me if I'm wrong.
Posted by Capttom1 at 04/21/2009 @ 3:43pm
I would like everyone here to read Bob Herbert's column, his acceptance speech for the Courage Award as it appears in the Huffington Post. I didn't check to see if it is in the Times. Please read it!!! and submit it to DIGG. I don't know how. It is absolutely great. It is about what has happened to this country and how we let it happen, and how we can change it.
Posted by jonnirae at 04/21/2009 @ 3:50pm
"These are heinous crimes..."
Heinous? Heinous crimes?
What are you, a drama queen?
You need to get a grip, introduce yourself to reality, and be HAPPY that McCain/Palin aren't running the show.
Or is it that NOTHING makes you happy?
Posted by Benchrest at 04/20/2009 @ 8:13pm
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
No, I don't think this person is a drama queen, Benchrest.
A decision to do nothing makes the current president and administation an accessory to the poor judgement of the previous administration, in effect making them one and the same administration.
The "I'd take this president over the last one (or McCain) any day" defense lacks depth. I, and the scores of others, did not vote for Obama because we'd settle for anything. We voted for him with the belief (and dare I say hope) that a new breed had finally arrived.
I don't think the Obamatons who rip into those who would criticize there beloved realize the gravity of this situation. One of Obama's central running platforms was 'restoring the moral standard of this country' that was discarded by the previous regime. These are not just pretty sounding words that one spouts only when it's time to woo voters. No, it's everything on which the liberty we enjoy is built.
Those who are outraged are right. Why pull punches? This is our president, not a favorite grandmother.
Posted by lordjin at 04/21/2009 @ 7:15pm
"Those who are outraged are right."
Posted by lordjin at 04/21/2009 @ 7:15pm
NOT.
You will forgive me, please, if I trust President Obama's judgement over yours, and the rest of the orbiting hyenas whose opinion of themselves far exceeds their actual importance, relative to the facts that President Obama is privy to a wealth of information and intelligence that they haven't the slightest clue of.
Posted by Benchrest at 04/21/2009 @ 8:21pm
Obama is trying to clean up the government, make it more efficient and cost effective. He is right to do so; the government is full of self serving stuffed shirts. Larry Summers is one of them and is evident in his recent interview. He had absolutely nothing to say and his contribution has been zero, or perhaps even less than zero.
Posted by ROinReno at 04/22/2009 @ 08:10am
Posted by lordjin at 04/21/2009 @ 7:15pm
Yes.
Posted by Benchrest at 04/21/2009 @ 8:21pm |
This is the argument made by Cheney/Bush.
The most recent irony is that Cheney NOW wants to release previously classified documents to attempt to save his own ass. When it is another US citizen in court, he was against releasing ANYTHING that may help prove their innocence. And Obama joined cheney in that argument.
Posted by crabwalk at 04/22/2009 @ 08:34am
Posted by crabwalk at 04/22/2009 @ 08:34am
"This is the argument made by Cheney/Bush."
Yes sir, I am aware of this bothersome similarity.
"And Obama joined cheney in that argument."
Which leads me to believe he has a very good reason to do so, as he is acutely aware of the political price.
"The most recent irony is that Cheney NOW wants to release previously classified documents to attempt to save his own ass."
A politician with a character flaw called selfishness. Will wonders never cease?
I am just willing to give the man a chance for a reasonable period of time before I start whining that I want it my way.
Posted by Benchrest at 04/22/2009 @ 10:21am
If you are delusional that proves it! Jesus!
Posted by mike63 at 04/23/2009 @ 08:36am