Summers and his famous ego wanted it and most likely expected it. But Barry did not give it to him because of a POLITICALLY INCORRRECT comment about women made by Summers while he was President of Harvard. Barry suck-up and butt boy John Harwood would confirm that as the reason why Summers had to take a back seat to Not Ready for Prime Time player Tiny Tim Geithner. I am no Barry fan. But he really, really screwed up his appointments badly. Hillary should have been Vice-President. It may have cost the lives of a couple of food tasters, but hey food tasters for monarchs is a high risk occupation. But Biden would have made a very good Secretary of State, he does not have enough to keep him busy as Vice-President, and when his idle he has trouble with his feet, if he is not putting them in his mouth, he is shooting them.
You have that a little backwards. Wall Street appointed Obama. Why on earth would McCain pick an eye-winking, joke-telling, no-name governor from a remote state like Alaska? And why would Charlie Gibson interview her with his glasses sitting on the bridge of his nose and look down on her like a father chastising his 10 year old daughter? Simply to discredit her and the McCain campaign to ensure Obama was "elected." People actually think their vote counts. What a farce. If this comes off as criticism toward Palin I offer anything but. I thought she did a fantastic job presenting herself (absent the winks of course) but she was put to shame by the mainstream media and Washington to ensure we could get "change you can believe in." Change? What a joke. Obama pretty much has Bill Clinton's cabinet -- all straight from Wall Street. Open your wallets fellas, and welcome to America. Oh, and don't get sick.
This is how you bribe a narcissist: convince him it's not a 'payola' but a reward for his advice, genious, invaluable advice etc. etc. whatever. Now you're not only a friend and an ally in the narcissist's thinking system, but also smart and worth listening to. So now it's easy to get favors from the narcissist. At the end of the day, the briber profits not from the advice, but from the favors. The advice was all wrong, but the guy has political clout and that's what the bribers are paying for. Same old corruption concealed under a veil of intellectual respectability. In his mind Mr. Summers has done nothing wrong because he's the greatest genius since Leonardo Da Vinci. Society owns him and he deserves every penny he has received and then some. Just like his friend Shleifer.
+1 Same could be said for Jamie Rubin, Hank Paulson, etc. We really do need a good housecleaning if there's any hope of saving the republic, but the sheeple are sedated.