The Wall Street Journal
Former Xerox Executive Anne Mulcahy Emerges as Candidate to Replace Economy Czar
Lawrence Summers, the economist who helped design and secure President Barack Obama's top economic policy priorities, will return to Harvard University at the end of the year.
Mr. Summers will be the third top economic official to leave the administration, following the president's first budget chief and his first Council of Economic Advisers chairman.
Two people familiar with the matter said the president is considering a senior corporate executive as a successor to lead the National Economic Council, answering criticism that the Obama administration lacks private-sector experience and is aloof from corporate America.
Former Xerox Corp. chief executive Anne Mulcahy quickly emerged as a leading candidate to replace Mr. Summers, though White House officials caution that no decisions have been made yet. A senior administration official confirmed that Ms. Mulcahy had dinner in Washington Friday evening with senior presidential adviser Valerie Jarrett. She is highly thought of within the administration, the official said, where she serves on the President's Economic Advisory Board.
A spokeswoman for Save the Children, where Ms. Mulcahy is chairman of the board of trustees, referred calls to Ms. Mulcahy's assistant. Calls to the assistant weren't returned.
Other candidates include Deputy National Economic Council Director Diana Farrell, who came to the White House from McKinsey & Company, and Laura Tyson, an economist at the University of California, Berkeley, who served in the Clinton administration as chair of the Council of Economic Advisers.
Mr. Summers' resignation is partially driven by a personal concern, friends say. If he doesn't return to Harvard by January, he will have overstayed a two-year leave of absence and his tenure would be revoked. He would then have to reapply.
"I will miss working with the President and his team on the daily challenges of economic policy making," Mr. Summers said in a written statement.
A senior administration official said Mr. Summers had expected to be named Treasury secretary, a post he held under President Clinton. When he instead was offered a job inside the White House, he initially thought he would stay for a year, then possibly be named chairman of the Federal Reserve Board. Instead, Mr. Obama decided to re-nominate Ben S. Bernanke to head the Fed, and with health-care and financial-regulation bills still in flux, he decided to stay for another year.
As a campaign adviser, Mr. Summers—a former president of Harvard, a former Treasury Secretary and an accomplished academic economist—gave heft to then-candidate Obama. But as he became more prominent in the Obama inner circle, liberals attacked him as too conservative and too tied to Wall Street. Women's groups continued to grumble about his time at Harvard, when he clashed with women faculty over a comment that women might not be as suited to the rigors of the hard sciences. That controversy led to his stepping down as president.
The criticism has only grown louder, from both the left and the right. House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R, Ohio) called on the president to fire him and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner earlier this month as a first step toward remaking his economic policies. Some Democrats have also called for his ouster.
A senior administration official said such criticism didn't figure in his departure. "I think Larry's pretty used to being in the public eye with all its pros and cons," said the official, who is also a friend of Mr. Summers.
With the long list of recent departures, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner appears to be the last of the top "economic principals" who came into the White House with Mr. Obama. The Treasury secretary had to survive recriminations over his failure to pay all his taxes even before he was confirmed. When he unveiled the administration's plan to stem the fiscal crisis, stock prices plunged on fears that he had no real plans.
But his handling of the complex financial-regulation bill buoyed his stature in the White House, and administration officials say he isn't about to leave.
Mr. Summers was one of the chief architects of the giant economic stimulus plan signed into law in February 2009. He was a key advocate even before the president's inauguration of a larger, more robust package than the one that eventually passed. Mr. Summers also helped guide the rescue of General Motors and Chrysler, a move White House officials regard as a major success but that remains highly controversial. He spent much of this year pressing for passage of the financial regulation plan.
"His insights have been essential to helping President Obama guide us through the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression," Mr. Geithner said in a written statement.
Administration officials say Mr. Summers' departure, along with the recent departures of Christina Romer and Peter Orszag, will give the president an opportunity to remake his economic team, both in substance and in style. Mr. Summers has created waves both inside and outside the White House because of his perceived heavy-handedness and ability to dominate conversations. Corporate executives have long complained they haven't had anyone close to the White House who understands their position.
Mr. Obama will be filling a key slot at a difficult time. A slew of economic proposals released this month has gained little traction in a Congress averse to more deficit spending. The president's bipartisan debt commission is scheduled to release its recommendations Dec. 1, thrusting deficit reduction to the center of policy-making before the economic recovery is likely to be on a sound footing.
Mr. Summers will be the third top economic official to leave the administration, following the president's first budget chief and his first Council of Economic Advisers chairman.
Two people familiar with the matter said the president is considering a senior corporate executive as a successor to lead the National Economic Council, answering criticism that the Obama administration lacks private-sector experience and is aloof from corporate America.
Former Xerox Corp. chief executive Anne Mulcahy quickly emerged as a leading candidate to replace Mr. Summers, though White House officials caution that no decisions have been made yet. A senior administration official confirmed that Ms. Mulcahy had dinner in Washington Friday evening with senior presidential adviser Valerie Jarrett. She is highly thought of within the administration, the official said, where she serves on the President's Economic Advisory Board.
A spokeswoman for Save the Children, where Ms. Mulcahy is chairman of the board of trustees, referred calls to Ms. Mulcahy's assistant. Calls to the assistant weren't returned.
Other candidates include Deputy National Economic Council Director Diana Farrell, who came to the White House from McKinsey & Company, and Laura Tyson, an economist at the University of California, Berkeley, who served in the Clinton administration as chair of the Council of Economic Advisers.
Mr. Summers' resignation is partially driven by a personal concern, friends say. If he doesn't return to Harvard by January, he will have overstayed a two-year leave of absence and his tenure would be revoked. He would then have to reapply.
"I will miss working with the President and his team on the daily challenges of economic policy making," Mr. Summers said in a written statement.
A senior administration official said Mr. Summers had expected to be named Treasury secretary, a post he held under President Clinton. When he instead was offered a job inside the White House, he initially thought he would stay for a year, then possibly be named chairman of the Federal Reserve Board. Instead, Mr. Obama decided to re-nominate Ben S. Bernanke to head the Fed, and with health-care and financial-regulation bills still in flux, he decided to stay for another year.
As a campaign adviser, Mr. Summers—a former president of Harvard, a former Treasury Secretary and an accomplished academic economist—gave heft to then-candidate Obama. But as he became more prominent in the Obama inner circle, liberals attacked him as too conservative and too tied to Wall Street. Women's groups continued to grumble about his time at Harvard, when he clashed with women faculty over a comment that women might not be as suited to the rigors of the hard sciences. That controversy led to his stepping down as president.
The criticism has only grown louder, from both the left and the right. House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R, Ohio) called on the president to fire him and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner earlier this month as a first step toward remaking his economic policies. Some Democrats have also called for his ouster.
A senior administration official said such criticism didn't figure in his departure. "I think Larry's pretty used to being in the public eye with all its pros and cons," said the official, who is also a friend of Mr. Summers.
With the long list of recent departures, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner appears to be the last of the top "economic principals" who came into the White House with Mr. Obama. The Treasury secretary had to survive recriminations over his failure to pay all his taxes even before he was confirmed. When he unveiled the administration's plan to stem the fiscal crisis, stock prices plunged on fears that he had no real plans.
But his handling of the complex financial-regulation bill buoyed his stature in the White House, and administration officials say he isn't about to leave.
Mr. Summers was one of the chief architects of the giant economic stimulus plan signed into law in February 2009. He was a key advocate even before the president's inauguration of a larger, more robust package than the one that eventually passed. Mr. Summers also helped guide the rescue of General Motors and Chrysler, a move White House officials regard as a major success but that remains highly controversial. He spent much of this year pressing for passage of the financial regulation plan.
"His insights have been essential to helping President Obama guide us through the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression," Mr. Geithner said in a written statement.
Administration officials say Mr. Summers' departure, along with the recent departures of Christina Romer and Peter Orszag, will give the president an opportunity to remake his economic team, both in substance and in style. Mr. Summers has created waves both inside and outside the White House because of his perceived heavy-handedness and ability to dominate conversations. Corporate executives have long complained they haven't had anyone close to the White House who understands their position.
Mr. Obama will be filling a key slot at a difficult time. A slew of economic proposals released this month has gained little traction in a Congress averse to more deficit spending. The president's bipartisan debt commission is scheduled to release its recommendations Dec. 1, thrusting deficit reduction to the center of policy-making before the economic recovery is likely to be on a sound footing.
