Romer, key Obama economic aide, resigning

[ProSense]

Source: Associated Press

WASHINGTON – Christina Romer, one of President Barack Obama's most pivotal economic advisers, is resigning, a change that comes as the White House struggles to show signs of clear economic gains to a hurting nation.

Romer, the head of the Council of Economic Advisers, announced her resignation on Thursday. It takes effect Sept. 3.

She will return to her job as a professor of economics at the University of California, Berkeley. The White House cast the decision as an unsurprising one driven by family reasons; in a statement, Obama said Romer has long wanted to return to California, where her son will be starting high school in the fall.

Romer has been one of the administration's most prominent voices on the economy, making frequent appearances on television and at White House events to promote Obama's policies. Her resignation comes as the White House labors to convince the public that the economy is on the right track amid near-double digit unemployment.


Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100806/ap_on_bi_ge/us_obama_economic_adviser_6

[Thrill]

1. Who wrote that Article? Fox News?

[SugarShack]

2. It's called "under the bus" when your numbers are low...

[onehandle]

3. National Journal's very frank take:

Christina Romer, chairwoman of Pres. Obama's Council of Economic Advisers, has decided to resign, according to a source familiar with her plans. Romer, an economics professor at the University of California (Berkeley) before taking the key admin post, did not respond to repeated calls to her office.

"She has been frustrated," a source with insight into the WH economics team said. "She doesn't feel that she has a direct line to the president. She would be giving different advice than Larry Summers , who does have a direct line to the president."

"She is ostensibly the chief economic adviser, but she doesn't seem to be playing that role," the source said. The WH has been pounded for its faulty forecast that unemployment would not top 8% after its economic stimulus proposal passed.

Instead, the jobless rate is 9.5%, after exceeding 10% last year. It was "a horribly inaccurate forecast," said Bert Ely, a banking consultant. "You have to wonder why Summers isn't the one that should be taking the fall. But Larry is a pretty good bureaucratic infighter."

http://hotlineoncall.nationaljournal.com/archives/2010/08/romer_to_leave.php

[msongs]

4. why go where your not wanted anyway nt

[No Elephants]

5. Summers. Ugh.