The Long Road to Change: Joseph Stiglitz

The names that Barack Obama has consistently thrown into the ring for his cabinet and other important posts throughout his administration have been primarily center-right in their political views. The Obama Transition Team ™ (OTT) has explained this away so far by pointing out that Obama is stressing a “team of rivals” approach similar to that taken by Lincoln in his presidency. He is choosing the most qualified and experienced people for the job, it is said, and will remain the undisputed master of policy. The article, Where’s Stiglitz? by Scott Horton (Harper's), puts the lie to this hopeful rationalization by pointing out that “the one expert who’s been right about the financial crisis all along—and whose Nobel Prize-winning ideas will probably be most central to fixing the global economy” is not on his team.

Not only that, but he wasn’t even invited.

It turns out that there’s some enmity between Summers, known almost universally as a gigantic jerk[1], is center-right in his ideology and served in an advisory capacity when the Clinton administration dismantled existing regulation—and prevented the introduction of new regulation—that led directly to the current recession and/or depression. Stiglitz, on the other hand, has a Nobel Prize, leans left-center and has been right every step of the way since leaving the World Bank, where he served as President.

Given the choice between those two, the OTT chose the center-right arrogant, misogynist prick. But, don’t read anything into that; Obama is sure to rule as a progressive nonetheless … just not on economic issues, where it hardly matters.