Obama taps new economic team on a big jobs day

Obama to bolster economic team
WASHINGTON (CNNMoney) -- President Obama will announce key members of his economic team Friday as the administration tries to nudge the U.S. economy into a higher gear, a White House official said. Gene Sperling, currently a counselor to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, will be named as the director of National Economic Council, a key policy post that he held during the final years of the Clinton Administration. Email Print Comment Obama will also announce Jason Furman as the principal depu...

Obama names Gene Sperling to top economic post
WASHINGTON (AP) — His presidency tied to the fate of The Economy, Barack Obama is revamping his Economic Policy team and signaling cooperation to ascendant Republicans and the business community at a pivotal moment in the nation's recovery and Washington politics. The president is surrounding himself with Veterans of the Clinton Administration. Chief of Staff William Daley, economic overseer Gene Sperling and recently confirmed Budget director Jacob Lew form an inner circle with a history...

Gene Sperling to replace Larry Summers as head of National Economic Council
President Obama on Friday named Gene Sperling director of the National Economic Council, choosing a Veteran of the Clinton Administration Budget battles to navigate the rocky shoals of record Budget Deficits, high Unemployment and a Republican resurgence in Congress. The announcement was made in the Prince George's County suburb of Landover, during a presidential visit to a window company that is taking advantage of a new Tax Break for businesses. Obama also announced other changes to his ec...

Obama names Sperling to top economic job
Stumble This! US President Barack Obama will on Friday tap expertise polished in the fondly remembered Clinton-era economic boom years with the choice of policy Veteran Gene Sperling for a top White House job. The move will be the latest step in a staff shuffle that has seen Obama refresh his economic and political teams to meet a strong challenge from resurgent Republicans as he prepares to build a 2012 Reelection campaign. Sperling is a Veteran of divided government battles with Republicans d...

Obama names Sperling to top economic job
US President Barack Obama will on Friday tap expertise polished in the fondly remembered Clinton-era economic boom years with the choice of policy Veteran Gene Sperling for a top White House job. The move will be the latest step in a staff shuffle that has seen Obama refresh his economic and political teams to meet a strong challenge from resurgent Republicans as he prepares to build a 2012 Reelection campaign. Sperling is a Veteran of divided government battles with Republicans during then-pres...

Obama Names Sperling to Lead Economic Council
WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama rounded out his economic team Friday by naming former Clinton Administration adviser Gene Sperling as head of the National Economic Council. Mr. Sperling is currently a senior adviser to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. His skills include navigating through feisty, partisan waters. He helped lead negotiations for the Obama administration during a tough fight over Bush-era Tax Cuts. While Republicans got what they wanted—an extension of tax cuts ...

Obama to bolster economic team
Gene Sperling is returning to the White House to head the National Economic Council. By CNN Wire and CNNMoney staffJanuary 7, 2011: 8:39 AM ET WASHINGTON (CNNMoney) -- President Obama will announce key members of his economic team Friday as the administration tries to nudge the U.S. economy into a higher gear, a White House official said. Gene Sperling, currently a counselor to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, will be named as the director of National Economic Council, a key policy post that...

Top GOPer praises Obama picks
(CNN) - Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is hopeful the staff shake ups at the White House this week that included a new Chief of Staff and director of the National Economic Council are a sign President Barack Obama is moving toward the political center. "Finally they found a guy who has some real world business experience," McConnell said on CNN's "John King, USA." "So maybe the president is going to take a more Centrist direction and if he does we may be able to do some business." Invoki...

Is Obama Following the Clinton Script?
It must seem like moving day lately at the White House - new folks coming in and old folks on their way out. This week alone we learned there will be new Press Secretary; we met a new Chief of Staff; and we learned of some job swaps on the economic team, most notably the return of Gene Sperling to head the National Economic Council. Many remember Sperling for having done that job under President Bill Clinton; most recently, he served as an advisor to Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner. Sperling rep...

Obama taps Gene Sperling to replace Larry Summers
WASHINGTON - President Obama corralled another top Clinton Administration Veteran Friday, naming Gene Sperling to replace Harvard-bound Larry Summers as head his Council of Economic Advisors. In unveiling the choice, Obama also hailed the jobs report for December that was unveiled this morning. It showed the Unemployment Rate dipped to to 9.4%. "The Economy added more than a hundred thousand jobs last month and the Unemployment Rate fell sharply," Obama said in his Speech, delivered in a nearb...

Obama names Sperling to top economic post
WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama appointed Gene Sperling as his director of the National Economic Council Friday, placing a Washington Veteran with a Bipartisan track record in the White House as the administration contends with a divided Congress. Sperling's appointment coincided with the release of the December jobs report that showed the Unemployment rate dropping to 9.4 percent, its Lowest Level in nearly two years. But job growth fell short of expectations, and Obama said that Sperl...

Obama names Sperling to top economic post
FILE - In this Dec. 17, 2010, file photo, Gene Sperling, counselor to Treas... WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama appointed Gene Sperling as his director of the National Economic Council Friday, placing a Washington Veteran with a Bipartisan track record in the White House as the administration contends with a divided Congress. Sperling's appointment coincided with the release of the December jobs report that showed the Unemployment Rate dropping to 9.4 percent, its Lowest Level in nearly...

Obama names Sperling to top economic post
(01-07) 09:26 PST WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama appointed Gene Sperling as his director of the National Economic Council Friday, placing a Washington Veteran with a Bipartisan track record in the White House as the administration contends with a divided Congress. Sperling's appointment coincided with the release of the December jobs report that showed the Unemployment Rate dropping to 9.4 percent, its Lowest Level in nearly two years. But job growth fell short of expectations, and ...

Obama names Sperling to top economic job
US President Barack Obama will on Friday name Veteran Clinton-era policy expert Gene Sperling to a top White House economic job, in the latest stage of a staff reshuffle, officials said. The move will be the latest step in a staff shuffle that has seen Obama refresh his economic and political teams to meet a strong challenge from resurgent Republicans as he prepares to build a 2012 Reelection campaign. Sperling is a Veteran of divided government battles with Republicans during then-president Bil...

WH: Obama to Name Sperling to Top Economic Post
WASHINGTON— President Barack Obama will name Gene Sperling as director of the National Economic Council on Friday, a move that will place a Veteran policy and political player in the White House to work with a divided Congress. The role gives Sperling broad Oversight of the administration's economic policies as the White House contends with near-double digit Unemployment and looming legislative battles over the Budget and Deficit. His appointment comes amid a broader shake-up of Obama's ...

Obama Unveils New Economic Team
Updated at 7:27 a.m. on January 7. President Obama will unveil a slate of new advisers to an audience at a green Home Improvement company in Landover, Md., later today, bracketing the release of what he hopes will be strong job numbers from December by showing off his retooled Economic Policy team. Most are Veterans of the partisan economic fights of the 1990s. Gene Sperling, 52, will be director of the National Economic Council, reprising a role he played during the boom years of the Clinton a...

More Staffing News at the White House
The president's new staff is falling into place, though White House officials say the search for the replacement for departing Press Secretary Robert Gibbs is just beginning. At a Manufacturing plant in Maryland today, the president will announce the appointment of Gene Sperling to head the National Economic Council, a job Sperling also held during the Clinton Administration. That post is being vacated by Larry Summers. The president will also name Jason Furman as assistant to the president ...

Sperling to head National Economic Council
Source: MSNBC Sperling, who was the head of the council under former President Clinton, would replace Larry Summers. Sperling is currently counselor to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. The president will make the announcement tomorrow during his visit to Thompson Creek Manufacturing in Landover, MD, a window manufacturer. While there, the president will also tour the facility and comment on the monthly employment report. Read more: https://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/01/06/5779327... ...

Obama Appoints Ultimate Wall Street Insiders to Top Posts Again
Washington’s Blog strives to provide real-time, well-researched and actionable information.  George - the head writer at Washington’s Blog - is a busy professional and a former adjunct Professor. ~~~ Obama is replacing his chief economic adviser - Larry Summers - with Gene Sperling. Sperling is currently a counselor to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, and is now being appointed as Obama’s chief economic adviser. He’s been there before: Sperling will

Sperling Returns As Obama's Top Economic Adviser
President Obama will name Gene Sperling today to be the permanent replacement for Larry Summers as director of the National Economic Council, White House officials said. The move, which had been widely predicted in recent days, will shift Mr. Sperling from his current role as a counselor at the Treasury Department into a new position as Mr. Obama’s top economic adviser in the West Wing. It will be a return engagement for Mr. Sperling, who served as director of the council under President Clin...

Back to the future: Obama turns to Clinton economic team
WASHINGTON — In retooling his economic team for the second half of his four-year term, President Barack Obama has gone back to the future, turning to old hands from President Bill Clinton's administration to try to restore confidence in the slowly recovering economy. The Economy flourished in the 1990s under Clinton, whose campaign song was Fleetwood Mac's "Don't Stop" (Thinking About Tomorrow). Never mind the tune's refrain: "Yesterday's gone." Th...

Obama learns it is the economy, stupid
Discussing the latest jobless report at a window factory in Maryland on Friday, President Barack Obama sounded a lot like the last Democrat who occupied the White House. First he borrowed a famous promise of President Bill Clinton to “focus like a laser beam” on Unemployment. Then he announced the return of yet another member of Clinton’s economic team. Continue Reading Text Size - + reset With the addition of Gene Sperling as director of the National Economic Council, the p...

Obama touts unemployment rate; lowest in 19 months
President Obama touted the lowest Unemployment Rate in 19 months during a visit to a Maryland window manufacturer, where he also announced changes to his economic team. The jobless rate fell to 9.4 percent in December as a strong holiday shopping season helped boost hiring among Retailers and the Manufacturing, health care and hospitality sectors added jobs. But the report was mixed. Overall, The Economy created a lower-than-expected 103,000 jobs during the month, and it's unclear whether the dr...

Familiar Game Being Played with Debt Ceiling
U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has asked Congress to raise the Debt-ceiling, currently set at $14.4 Trillion.  It’s not an unusual request.  Congress has voted to raise the debt ceiling 10 times in the past 10 years, and about 70 times in the last 50, making the “debt ceiling” more of a “debt elevator.”  But this year could be different.  Several Republican members of Congress, many of whom were backed by anti-spending Tea Party groups,...

Lindsey Graham: Failure To Raise Debt Ceiling Would Cause 'Collapse and Calamity Throughout The World'
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) set himself apart from a number of his Republican colleagues Thursday by taking a stand in favor of raising the Federal Government's Debt ceiling and acknowledging the possible consequences of not doing so. "Let me tell you what's involved if we don't lift the Debt ceiling: financial collapse and calamity throughout the world. That's not lost upon me," Graham said on CNN, according to ThinkProgress. The South Carolina Republican made similar comments Sunday on NBC...