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Memo To Summers: Less Listening, More Talking

This story, via the NYT, is supposed to make us feel better, but I have the opposite reaction:

On Capitol Hill, Mr. Summers is busy repairing his image from the Clinton years, when many lawmakers felt that he treated them mostly as an annoyance. When Speaker Nancy Pelosi called him at the dinner hour on one recent evening, he “dropped everything,” a senior aide said, to rush to the Capitol, where he got an earful from House Democratic leaders irate over the Senate’s handling of the stimulus bill.

“He’s been in listening mode, not lecturing mode,” said one Democratic lawmaker, Representative Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, who was there.

Charming--but alarming! With the world economy on the brink of disaster I don't want Larry Summers taking cues from House Democratic leaders. I want him telling them to shut up and do what his vast economic expertise dictates to save our *sses! Nancy Pelosi's feathers can be smoothed later.

--Michael Crowley