Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Larry Summers Has Got to Go


Larry Summers is a snake. I’ve said it all along, back when the talks of him joining the Obama staff were merely rumors. My distrust for the man grew in the wake of the ruckus he caused while Professor Cornel West was still teaching at Harvard University. Summers, the school’s Dean at the time, had essentially pushed West out of Harvard. Why? Because Dr. West was working on an album titled Sketches of My Culture and campaigning for then-presidential candidate, “Dollar” Bill Bradley. Essentially, Summers’ argument was that instead of putting out a CD, West should have only focused on his teaching. Fair enough. But West only missed one class during his tenure in Harvard, and that was to attend a Harvard-sponsored conference on AIDS.

In retrospect, the part about this story that pisses me off the most is the following: sure, Dr. West had a couple of side-projects, but what kind of side-schemes has Summers been up to? Well, he joined a hedge fund called D.E. Shaw, with which he made a total of $5.2 million, working there for only one day per week. Seems like a mighty large sum for just one day’s worth of work per week, don't it? I wonder if said hedge fund and its benefactors are benefiting from Summers new job as the Director of the White House's National Economic Council. No, I don’t wonder. I’m positive of it. Either he's gotta explain this all for himself, or bottom line: Larry Summers has got to go.

And while we’re at it, someone oughta teabag him, too!

Pause.

Read: Awake and Sing! by New York Times' Op-Ed Columnist Frank Rich