Ezra Klein at The Washington Post, who was one of the first to report that Summers is favored by the White House, just published a story citing numerous Summers supporters on why he would be a great Fed Chairman.
His key supporters are concentrated in and around the Obama administration, and they stay out of the media almost as a matter of course. But their reticence has led to a real imbalance in the debate.
One surprise comment is they believe Summers would be a better regulator. They see his 1990s track record as basically irrelevant and say he was a strong supporter of aggressive bank regulations inside the Obama administration.
His supporters also admire him and say he’s brilliant.
Summers’s supporters don’t just like him. They think he’s special, a once-in-a-generation mind that makes the minds around him better.