Relative unknown Christina Romer was a smart pick to lead Barack Obama's Council of Economic Advisers, Lisa Lerer writes for Politico. The Berkeley professor is a Depression expert, and "right now, you want a business cycle stabilization chair," one colleague said. She describes herself as having “liberal Obama-heavy political views,"but she shares Larry Summers' "centrist, pragmatic perspective on economic issues."
“They will be natural allies on many issues,” said Greg Mankiw, former chairman of Bush’s Council of Economic Advisers, and a close Romer friend. Romer studied under the brilliant but difficult Summers at MIT, and she knows how to handle him, he said. “Larry is also a bull in a china shop,” said Mankiw. “Christy has more of a deft touch."
(More Christina Romer stories.)