Lawrence Summers is a great choice to head Obama's National Economic Council

Although Lawrence Summers was a leading contender for Secretary of Treasury, heading the president's National Economic Council is a much better fit for his background and temperament, just as Treasury is a much better fit for Timothy Geithner.

One unknown is exactly how Bernanke and Geithner (not to mention Summers) will get along since formerly Geithner was a subordinate, in a position to carry out the policy decisions of the Federal Reserve Board and the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee. He certainly has proved that he can work well with Bernanke in his current role, but now he will have a somewhat more political role for the opposite party from Bernanke. I suspect things will work out fine, but we will have to see how it evolves, especially as Obama economic and financial policy takes on a life of its own, somewhat different from the policies of President Bush.

-- Jack Krupansky