Who Wasn't On Stage With Obama (yesterday) and Should Have Been?

[babylonsister]

Steve Clemons
Posted November 8, 2008 | 07:29 AM (EST)

Who Wasn't On Stage With Obama and Should Have Been?



I'm not satisfied with the roster of economic personalities and thinkers we see Barack Obama mixing with.

I realize that there are a lot of players behind the scenes and those who walked out on stage (list below) are symbolic of clusters of other people and thinkers -- though every time I see Robert Rubin and Lawrence Summers in the same group, it reminds me of the UK and France on the P-5 at the UN Security Council. Do we really need two European members in the same permanent body? Do we really need both Rubin and Summers at every meeting with press availability?

Below I have provided the roster of names who stood on stage with President-elect Obama yesterday at his first post election press conference.

But some who were missing who Obama should build in -- some are not now advisers and some are.

First of all, Jason Fuhrman and Austan Goolsbee are clearly going to be important parts of Obama's economic team. Goolsbee is rumored to be the likely shoe-in for Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors. He really should be on stage too given that possibility and his influence in Obama's economic thinking. Fuhrman as well.

But beyond the obvious, I would like to see George Soros, Warren Buffet and Bill Gates on stage.

Soros not only predicted the global financial meltdown but wrote an entire book about it - and gave early warnings about needing to create new mechanisms to deal with credit default swaps -- which he called a "Damocles sword" hanging over the head of the entire global financial system -- earlier this year. Soros should be playing a bigger role in economic policy sculpting, and he shouldn't be in the background.

We know that Buffet is talking with Obama. But I'd include Bill Gates who understands the importance of investing in high multiplier economic infrastructure as opposed to investments that yield few long term positive recurring results.

I'd like to see Paul Krugman, Joseph Stiglitz, Jeffrey Sachs, James Galbraith, Leo Hindery, Clyde Prestowitz, Charlene Barshefsky, C. Fred Bergsten, Adam Posen, Robert Kuttner, Robert Samuelson, Alan Murray, William Bonvillian, Doug & Heidi Rediker, Bernard Schwartz, Tom Gallagher, Sheila Bair, Sherle Schwenninger, and Kevin Phillips added to a discussion group on the economy. It would be far more diverse, less predictable, genuinely interesting and produce greater policy option possibilities than the quite "regal" group on stage.

more...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steve-clemons/who-wasnt-on-stage-with-o_b_142314.html

[peacetalksforall]

1. This writer knows way more than I can comment on. One comment I heard

yesterday stuck with me and I don't know enough to know if it's true - that the stage was set for Goldman-Sachs.

That doesn't set well with me and I don't enen know if that is a fair statement.

Who knew that we had to start learning who is who and who we can approve of. But, I better get started, I guess.

Perhaps it's better to know, but we've learned that we can't trust. Now, it looks like the bail-out truth is exactly what we didn't want to happend. They bailed out themselves and not the country.

[babylonsister]

4. I hear you. I'm not up on my economists either.

But this guy is a good writer, has been around awhile. This is probably a good list to revisit.

[Inspired]

2. Paul Krugman is the one I was disappointed to not see. n/t

[MannyGoldstein]

3. Same Here

I think that Obama will govern from the center while pushing to the Left - he doesn't want to scare people with a "crazy left winger", although the policies that actually get implemented will be just what Krugman will endorse.

[Inspired]

6. You are probably right. I trust Obama's judgment on this.

[gorbal]

5. Not a good time to sit on our backsides

Hopefully he'll start with issues that people can agree on for the most part and slowly drum up positive feelings and a sense of camraderie so that more divisive measures won't leave congress to polarized to work together.

That being said; I hope he doesn't make the mistake of letting the far right define the argument and decide where the "center" of any given issue is.

This will be an important time to practice the art of writing your congressmen and women as they do listen to their constituents.