Let's be honest...didn't that weird little article of June 8th reek of political maneuvering? After Bernanke's failure to inspire much public confidence concerning the BofA/Merril deal on June 26th, Summers has raised the stakes in his lobbying for the position of Fed chief. "Kremlinology," this ain't. It's fairly clear to anyone who has ever worked in a corporate environment; Summers wants a position no one else wants him to have, because Summers consistently earns a "D-" under "Plays well with Others." In other words, he's a difficult, self-satisfied prick whom the adminstration will find very difficult to control if he is rewarded with Bernanke's position. It's nice the games our leaders get up to while Rome burns, isn't it?

Rahm Emanuel anti-Wall Street? Pleeeeeez! That's like saying Karl Rove is anti-corporate.

These two are to centers of power and money as flies are to (need I be graphic?)

Serious Democrats are getting restless. Sure there was a financial crisis when Obama took over, and continuity is the byword in the Presidential survival manual. So we keep Gates, (we open a new front in Afghanistan, we keep detaining the detainees, and we softpedal torture).We put Goldman in charge of Treasury, and we leave Bernanke for the time being, (if we accept Bush's policy of bringing the Fed chief closer to the President's cabinet, then we accept the contination of Bernanke on two separate matters, as an agent of the Bush economic policy in place at the time Obama took office, and the Bush policy decision to redefine the Fed chief's role.) Thirdly there is the matter of how Obama is going to use the media to float trial balloons, the Neocons control an entire TV network, as the President said, so when Obama wants to get the word out, how is he going to do it?

Now that Franken is seated the Dems have their majority, (cue laughs here), and the Bush II period should vanish pretty quickly. Now that we know Goldman pulled the rug out from under AIG, creating the financial crisis, it might seem less propitious to keep the Goldman guy on the job. I would say Summers really wants Treasury, and for Obama, putting a close insider in the position as Fed Chief would mean at least one plank of Bush II would remain in place. Is there room for even one? I love this stuff, it berates the usual plethora of official lies, and gives the American people a bit of a shadow democracy, (the bloggers screech and moan and policy gets moved) which is better than no Democracy, which is what we have now.