Larry Summers Gets 'Full-Throated Defense' From Obama In Capitol Hill Meeting, Lawmaker Says

[deurbano]

18. Representative Gerald E. Connolly, Democrat of Virginia

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/01/us/politics/obama-goes-to-capitol-to-soothe-anxious-democrats.html?_r=0

By JONATHAN WEISMAN and MARK LANDLER
Published: July 31, 2013

<<President Obama on Wednesday offered a strong defense of his potential choice of Lawrence H. Summers to head the Federal Reserve, though he said no final choice had been made.

Speaking to members of the House Democratic caucus on Capitol Hill, Mr. Obama said in answer to a “barbed question” from a lawmaker that he believed Mr. Summers, a former senior economic adviser to the president, had been maligned in the liberal news media, according to Representative Gerald E. Connolly, Democrat of Virginia, who took part in the meeting.

According to Mr. Connolly’s account, the president described Mr. Summers as a rock of stability who deserved credit for helping steer the American economy back from the financial crisis of 2008 and the ensuing recession. Mr. Obama, Mr. Connolly said, singled out the negative coverage of Mr. Summers in The Huffington Post.

The president, Mr. Connolly said, emphasized that he had not made a decision on the next Fed chairman, adding, “I’m not even close to making that choice.” He did not address the criticism of Mr. Summers over his record on women’s issues, which have dogged him throughout his career.>>