Of course the President appointed Yellen. He COULDN'T appoint Summers.

[cali]

too many dems had sent him the message that Summers was unacceptable and he withdrew his name a month ago.

so for all those piously braying about how the President didn't name Summers, well duh. He couldn't. Got that?

and yeah, everyone fucking knows that Summers is a great favorite of Obama's, so the moronic claim that he didn't choose Summers is just that- MORONIC.

[scheming daemons]

1. "everyone knows"

Just like "everyone knew" Obama would bomb Syria.

And "everyone knew" Obama was going to gut SS.

And "everyone knew" Obama was going to defend DOMA and never support marriage equality.



"Everyone knows" is the retort of the scoundrel that has no proof and is often wrong.

[DireStrike]

2. So how do you know when political pressure has an effect

Do you just always assume that it doesn't?

[joshcryer]

3. Had he appointed Summers the Democrats would've voted for it.

You don't reject your party leader when the differences between Summers and Yellen are meager at best.

Yellen was chosen specifically to appease the left wing because, frankly, she's a lesser known individual. Don't even get me started on her policy positions in the past (on social issues she actually makes Summers look like a good guy).

Yes, Summers was Obama's favorite, Obama fucking hired him as an adviser day 1 and has followed the Summers' Memo to the tee. No one disputes that.

Fact is Summers was never nominated.

[cali]

4. uh bzzt. fact is he WITHDREW his name. what the hell is so hard

to understand about that??????

[joshcryer]

5. LOL, because Summers withdrew on his own accord.

He gave Obama the out. He was buddies with Obama from the start. Day 1 of the Obama administration. This is a joke. Obama looked to Summers and implemented the Summers Memo from the beginning (less stimulus = more; which Krugman destroyed, btw).

Summers was told he wasn't going to be picked, full stop. Summers did the political thing and "withdrew" so he could save face since he was Obama's top pick all those months but Obama's messaging team said it'd look bad.

If Obama really wanted Summers he would've chosen him and the Democrats would've voted for him.

Yellen is hardly a good pick at all and it is embarrassing that her pick is touted as a good thing, it's not. Fuck, as much as it sucks to say this, at least Summers was on the record for raising taxes. Yellen? Who is she? What does she support? Yellen is Bernanke 2.0. Why did Wall Street rally once Summers withdrew? Because he was going to raise interest rates.

Neither of them is a good pick, and I can't say for sure who is better, but Wall Street interests and the lesser known nature of Yellen tells me that the status quo will prevail.

My bet is that Obama supported Summers but his messaging team said no. Now when Senate Democrats like Warren vote for Yellen we can know where their true alliances lie, and it's not with the 99%.