Leadership in action.
(LA Times) — As he confronts the threat of another recession and turmoil in the financial markets, President Obama is being advised by an economic team that is noticeably short on big-name players — potentially hurting his ability to find solutions and sell them to Wall Street, Congress and the American public.
“When you ask about the economic team, it’s kind of like, ‘What economic team?'” said Edward Mills, a financial policy analyst with FBR Capital Markets. “They are very thin at a very critical time.”
The administration needs all the firepower it can muster, experts said. Yet the team is missing a key messenger in selling Obama’s policies. The post of chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors — an influential position — is vacant and is likely to remain so at least into the fall.
Perhaps more telling, there no longer is a formal economic briefing in the Oval Office every morning, a gathering in which Summers, Romer, Geithner and other key advisors assessed the data and batted around ideas with Obama.