"For the part of the job that is spent in ad hoc committees making personnel decisions, he's the best you can possibly get--probably one of the best in the world," Delong says.
Equally strong, says Delong, would be his ability to plan for the University's future. Summers, he says, is a central thinker about the emerging New Economy and is deeply interested in the ramifications it will have for the world.
"In planning for the future of the University, Larry would be again among the best of the world. He's someone who can move resources into promising new areas, as opposed to merely following behind," Delong says.
Waldman remembers Summers' enthusiasm as they worked late one night on a speech Clinton was to give at a conference in Geneva two days later. A line in the speech mentioned how the global economy should lift people up.
"He had a passion for making this vision a reality," Waldman says.
Liabilities
He is the only big-name Washington insider still known to be on the search committee's list--Clinton and Gore failed to make the first cuts--and his time in Washington was not without controversy.
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