MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Overhaul of Obama’s economic team continues: Summers returns to Harvard

After two years, Summers time is up

The White House announced Tuesday that, director of the National Economic Council will leave the administration of President Barack Obama and return to Harvard University at the end of the year.

Larry Summers, chief adviser to President Obama on the development and implementation of economic policy, previously served as Treasury secretary during the Clinton administration.

“I will always be grateful that at a time of great peril for our country a man of Larry’s brilliance, experience and judgment was willing to answer the call and lead our economic team,” Obama said in a statement issued by the White House. “Over the past two years, he has helped guide us from the depths of the worst recession since the 1930s.”

However Summers has been criticized by some liberal Democrats as too close to Wall Street. There were also a number of reports of clashes on the economic team within the White House.

The move comes as analysts say Obama needs to signal a fresh course on the economy, with confidence in his leadership on the issue slumping amid predictions of steep losses for his Democratic allies in the November 2 congressional elections. Obama's poll numbers on economic leadership are particularly low, with unemployment at 9.6%.

Obama is seen as highly likely to tap someone from outside the administration to fill Summers job, with some saying he should look at business people as potential candidates. He has been criticized for having few people with that background in the administration's senior ranks.

Laura Tyson, a former economic adviser to President Bill Clinton, is among those likely to be considered.

If Obama were to turn to a businessperson, General Electric Chairman Jeffrey Immelt and Richard Parsons, chairman of Citigroup, are among people who have been mentioned as potential candidates.

Summers will be the third high-ranking economic official to depart, leaving Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner as the sole senior member of that team still in his original job.

White House budget director Peter Orszag stepped down in July and White House Council of Economic Advisers Chairwoman, Christina Romer, left her job at the beginning of this month.

Summers said in a statement released by the White House that he was “looking forward to returning to Harvard to teach and write” about the economy and finance.

Geithner described Summers as someone who “always asks the tough questions and forces the hard debate about the best way forward for our economy and for our country,” and said he would also continue to value his advice.