A big reason I’m interested in Obama advisers like Valerie Jarrett is that one of the takeaway lessons of the past seven and a half years is that presidential advisers are really, really, really important–perhaps less important to a more engaged executive than Bush, i.e. Obama or McCain or practically anyone else, but important nonetheless.
Anyway, former U. of C. law star Cass Sunstein, an Obama adviser and, it has been idly but frequently speculated, a possible Supreme Court selection under a possible Obama administration, is coming under criticism from some of the more prominent and well-regarded left-wing bloggers. Kathy G., who studied under Sunstein at the U. of C., takes him to task over a number of issues, as does Glenn Greenwald; Matt Stoller looks at Sunstein’s new book, Nudge, and the idea that behavioral economics is replacing free market economics.