The new Suskind book about the White House and the economic crisis comes out today! The media and blogosphere are definitely abuzz. Most of the talk is about the supposed insubordination and the alleged mistreatment of women. My guess is that these allegations - already being walked back by the original sources - won't add up to much in the end.
What I really, really want to know - what I've wanted to know since it happened - is why the F#@% the Obama administration made the fatal pivot from jobs to the deficit. This brief passage* posted to my blog via Brad Delong is certainly suggestive. Mainly, it sounds like those pushing for more stimulus (primarily Christina Romer, but also, apparently, Larry Summers!) were themselves baffled. Obama - according to Romer - seemed to have come up with his own ideas about the economy and Suskind suggests that Obama is, by temperament, a deficit hawk.
I have a hard time believing the Romer line. Obama may have his own proclivities, but there's no chance he was just going it alone. My guess - and it's just a guess at this point - is that it was Orzag and Geitner who wanted to focus on the deficit and they were able to override Romer and Summers who, at that point, were the only voices pushing for additional stimulus.
* Unfortunately, I couldn't get the Typepad passage to post on Kos as Typepad is not approved. So, the Suskind excerpt is available on my blog as linked above and also on Brad Delong's blog (although I couldn't link to the actual post).
Cross-posted at Plutocracy Files.