Robert Rubin returns
By EAMON JAVERS
April 8, 2010
Former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin — who watched his reputation as an economic titan shatter after he left the Clinton White House — is decidedly out of favor in the nation’s capital.
Except for one place — the Obama administration.
Behind the scenes, Rubin still wields enormous influence in Barack Obama’s Washington, chatting regularly with a legion of former employees who dominate the ranks of the young administration’s policy team. He speaks regularly to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, who once worked for Rubin at Treasury.
And as Obama battles critics on the left who believe his financial reform push lets Wall Street off the hook, his team can’t afford to be seen taking advice from Rubin — who won a reputation among his party’s liberals as too pro-market and too anti-worker.
Still, with his legion of former employees and regular phone calls, Rubin remains influential in the capital.
The long list of Rubin acolytes working for Obama includes National Economic Council Director Larry Summers, Geithner counselor Gene Sperling, Budget Director Peter Orszag, Deputy Assistant to the President Michael Froman (who worked with Rubin at Treasury and at Citigroup), National Economic Council official Jason Furman, Deputy National Security Adviser Tom Donilon and Gary Gensler, the head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Summers and many of the other officials also get regular phone calls from Rubin.
Also, many of the basic assumptions underlying Obama’s approach to the economy can be traced to Rubin’s ideas about the way capitalism should work, say former colleagues.
Rubin’s critics say they see his fingerprints on proposals in Obama’s regulatory reform agenda.
“This is the guy whose policies basically allowed Wall Street to play Russian roulette with our future, and now millions of Americans are out of work as a result,” said Daniel Pedrotty, director of the AFL-CIO’s office of investment. “He took his money and fled the scene of the crime.”
Many of the basic assumptions underlying the president's approach to the economy can be traced to the ideas of former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, say former colleagues.
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