Last week I had a little stint guest blogging for Esquire while the unstoppable Charles Pierce took a vacation.  On of my topics was the Larry Summers for Fed Chair debate and my take was that even if you really, really like Larry Summers there's nothing about him that makes him so singular a talent that he and only he should run the Fed. Summers faces opposition from Wall Street, Congressional Democrats and prominent women, among others.  In the face of that, and given the presence of Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Janet Yellen as a perfectly qualified candidate, why all the emotional and mental energy spent on Summers?

The answer, of course, is that he has friends in high places.  One of those friends, according to his column in this morning's Times is Steve Rattner.  Rattner is, by most accounts (well summarized here by Gawker) a huge jerk.  He's such a jerk that he has hired consultants to teach him how not to come off as such a jerk.  People do not like him.

That is also, in many ways, the knock on Summers.  Both men are capable, smart, ambitious people who have hurt and offended others, often needlessly, in pursuit of whatever it is they happen to have been pursuing at the time.  Summers casually dismissed the scientific and mathematical abilities of an entire gender at Harvard. Rattner clashed frequently with other partners back when he was at Lazard and then used a kickback scheme to win an investment from the New York State Pension funds for the private equity firm he founded after leaving the bank.

In his piece, Rattner argues in favor of Summers' abrasive style, saying that he enjoys it, even when working for the guy.  What he doesn't do is argue why Summers is more qualified than Yellen or any other number of people who could chair the Fed.

Instead, I see a defense of gruff behavior among the powerful or those who would aspire to power.  This is a cultural argument.  This is the "super man" argument for why some great people are exempt from conventional morality.  It isn't an argument for why a certain guy should run the Fed.

Oddly, we have no insights at all about Yellen's interpersonal skills.  Those aren't being debated.  Instead, we're asked to take Summers in spite of his flaws.  As for Summers vs. Yellen on the skills, it has to be considered a draw at best.  Nobody who argues for the genius of Summers can argue against the genius of Yellen (or, if they can, they haven't).

The Summers support is cliqueish.  The clique is full of jerks.  Obama should end this now.  I think Yellen is a better choice but even if I'm wrong, she's at least as good. Why fight the uphill battle just so that the privileged Summers can get the job he wants?