From MarketWatch (bold mine):
President Obama appears to be leaning toward his former economic adviser Larry Summers as his pick for the next chairman of the Federal Reserve, but he's facing opposition from fellow Democrats worried about Summers's track record, according to the Washington Post. The White House is currently gauging the level of pushback over Summers, who some Democrats oppose for his role in undoing Wall Street regulation when he served as Treasury secretary late in the Clinton administration, the Washington Post's Wonkblog reported. Specifically, Summers was involved in the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act, which had forced the separation of retail and investment banks following the mass bank failures of the 1930s. A separate Wall Street Journal report said a number of Democratic senators were circulating a letter petitioning Obama to instead choose Fed Vice Chair Janet Yellen to replace incumbent Ben Bernanke, who is widely expected to step down when his term expires at the end of January. The report said roughly a third of all Senate Democrats had signed the letter. However, the Washington Post said the White House sees Summers as having changed his views on deregulation since the 1990s and that current opposition to him as a possible Fed chief is based on old information.
Obama is already rationalizing it: Summers has changed. Wait for it.