Goolsbee Stays With Campaign Team

The Huffington Post reports:

Lost in this week's announcement that Austan Goolsbee, the chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, would be leaving the White House in time of the beginning of the next school year was a telling footnote. While Goolsbee is returning to his teaching post at the University of Chicago, he will continue to advise Obama and, more significantly, will play a role in his reelection campaign.

The president personally asked Goolsbee to remain in that advisory role -- and for good reason. As top advisers note, among the cadre of officials who have served on Obama's economic team, few have the capacity to serve as an effective spokesman. Goolsbee, a top collegiate debater and frequent television presence, stands head and shoulders above the rest.

"There's no one who articulates our position better," said David Axelrod, the longtime Obama confidant and soon-to-be top reelection aide, in an interview with The Huffington Post. "[Goolsbee] has the broadest range: He can talk to very sophisticated economic audiences, and he can talk to general audiences because he has a gift for saying his ideas in a clear but colloquial way."