Senate Dems: "confirming (Summers) would be a huge challenge and probably a pretty ugly process.”

[geek tragedy]

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2013/07/senate-dem-leadership-summers-fed-confirmation-fight-would-be-ugly-perhaps-impossible.php

“Given the level of opposition to Larry Summers within our caucus, confirming him would be a huge challenge and probably a pretty ugly process,” a Senate Democratic leadership aide tells TPM.

More:

But even if the White House comes to the conclusion that Summers is the superior choice to replace Bernanke, they’ve now been apprised that liberal anger at Summers over his controversial statements about women, and his ties to Wall Street (and the concern that Obama will miss an opportunity to break a big economic and political glass ceiling) isn’t a fringe or ephemeral phenomenon.

Instead, Senate Democratic leaders have concluded that a confirmation fight over Summers would be a long, wasteful, divisive slog, and might ultimately fail.

[DreamGypsy]

1. Two petitions at WhiteHouse.gov need some DU attention...

Nominate Janet Yellin as the next Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board and not Larry Summers -- NO MORE CRONIES !!!

The petition references a Facebook post by Robert Reich (search for 'Yellen'):

Janet Yellen has impeccable credentials. She's now vice-chairman of the Fed, after having been head of the San Francisco branch of the Fed, and before that, an economics professor at Berkeley. In 2007 she was one of the very few voices sounding the alarm about the sub-prime mortgage crisis. Not incidentally, she's also a delightful person. Those who have worked with her tell me she listens carefully to all views, and is respectful of her employees. If selected, she'd be the first woman to head the Fed.

and Do not nominate Larry Summers to head the Federal Reserve.

Reich's take on Summers:

I worked with Larry Summers in the Clinton administration, where he eventually became Treasury Secretary. Under Obama, he ran the National Economic Council. Personally, I like Larry. He's very bright, and able to see the nub of most policy problems very quickly. But he has the tact and personality of a bull in a China shop, and he's been notoriously wrong about a few big things. In the late 1990s, he urged Clinton to sign off on legislation killing off Glass-Steagall, and was also part of the Rubin-Greenspan cabal that rejected the arguments of Brooksley Born, then chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, for why the CFTC should regulate financial derivatives. Summers' subsequent tenure as president of Harvard came to an end after he suggested one reason women were not well-represented in the sciences is they don't have the mind for it. As chair of the National Economic Council under Obama, he and Tim Geithner, then Treasury Secretary, bailed out Wall Street while refusing to impose tough conditions on the banks.

Easy to sign both.

[Igel]

2. So he's saying a lot of Democrats would oppose the President's nomination, were it Summers.

Interesting.

So it is something that can be done without being accused of racism or obstructionism.

Wonder how the (R) feel about Summers.

[burrowowl]

3. I'm glad there are

DEMS that would oppose Summers nomination.

What the hell is Obama thinking?!