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Bush Economic Adviser, Friedman, to Leave Tue Nov 23, 2004 03:45 PM ET Printer Friendly | Email Article | Reprints | RSS By Adam Entous CRAWFORD, Texas (Reuters) - Stephen Friedman, one of President Bush's top economic advisers, plans to leave the White House this year and is expected to return to the private sector, administration officials said on Tuesday. A leading candidate to replace Friedman as head of the National Economic Council is Tim Adams, policy director for Bush's re-election campaign and a former chief of staff at the Treasury Department, Republican sources said. "Steve Friedman does intend to resign from his position on the National Economic Council," White House spokeswoman Claire Buchan told reporters in Crawford, Texas, where Bush is spending the Thanksgiving holiday. Officials said Friedman helped shape the administration's economic policies, largely from behind the scenes. Buchan said he led Bush's economic team in passing sweeping tax cuts that "contributed to the economic recovery and the job creation that we've seen." Republicans say Friedman's departure marks the start of a gradual overhaul of Bush's economic team. The chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, Greg Mankiw, plans to return to his teaching post at Harvard University in Boston as early as February, people close to the White House said. Bush appointed Friedman in December 2002 to replace embattled NEC chief Lawrence Lindsey, who was forced out along with Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill. O'Neill was succeeded by John Snow, who has told associates he wants to stay in the job for at least six months to a year longer to launch Bush's tax-overhaul proposal. The appointment of Friedman, who served as co-chairman of Goldman Sachs with former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, initially sparked a backlash from conservative Republicans. They questioned his association with centrist groups such as the Concord Coalition, which was founded to promote deficit-reduction policies. Republicans who favor "supply-side" policies, such as low taxes and deregulation, had warned that Friedman would be more interested in balancing the budget than supporting Bush's tax-cutting package. Friedman spent 28 years with Goldman Sachs. Just before joining the White House, he was a senior principal at the investing firm Marsh & McLennan Capital. He was a major contributor to Republican coffers during the 2000 presidential campaign. http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle....storyID=6899605

Friedman's connection with the Concord Coalition could be a big boon for curtailing the nation's twin deficits, unless spend and spend conservatives manage to sideline him like they sidelined Specter. Anyway, it would be great if we could get some fiscal responsiblity, or in other words fiscal liberalism, back in the white house.

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