larrysomeers is a product of harvard, janet yellin of yale. they both seem strongly at this time in our economic history, the government, particularly the fiscal side of government-- tax and spend ago should be more aggressive. both of them believe the fed has a pretty important role to play in getting the economy going again. i think there may be some differences in nuance about how they would actuallyin actually e job when they got there. their personalities are very different. i think in terms of the fed policy we'd expect, i think there's not that much difference between them. >> woodruff: i want to ask you about that. there are prominent democrats coming out and talking about larry summers' position on deregulation before the financial collapse in 2008, and they're questioning whether if larry summeres were chosen the current fed policy of bond buying, stimulating the economy, getting the government involved in the economy, would continue. >> well, i think what summers has said is that he doesn't think this quantitative easing, this bond

the name janet yellin figures prominently in the speculation, but not always, her supporters say, for the right reasons. jeff pegues has more on that. >> reporter: the president is candid about the choice he faces-- >> it is definitely one of the most important economic decision i'll make in the remainder of my presidency. >> reporter: among the favorites, former obama economic adviser lawrence summers and the current vice chair of the federal reserve, janet yellin. taken together the names spark debate whether sexism is at play in the decision. just look at the headlines-- sex, money, and gravitas. and "funny how gender never came up during bernanke's nomination." a woman has never held the job, and professor lara brown said there is a perception of bias. >> these are roles that are seen as men's issues-- money and war. and both of those things require sort of a masculine temperament, according to the stereotypes. >> reporter: while summers isn't weighing in on the debate, his comment eight years ago about gender differences in mathematical abilities still haunt him. during a speech

you said yes, larry summer, janet yellin, both qualified.talked about male politician fatigue. why does her gender have anything to do with it? >> a., we won't see pictures of her private parts, lady bitted applying about the internet. we learn not a fan of anybody, but i do agree with him that i think what's been unpress denned in this administration is that this president has not like any other president gotten his picks whether it's because so i think that he may be a little prickly and i'm not sure he'll apoint larry summers. i think he was defending him. i think he was loyal because larry summers did help him get out of the mess that george bush left us in economically. >> yes. >> as a liberal, i think he did help us get out of the mess and i think the president was personally loyal and i think he's prickly about not everybody criticizing his picks, when every other president got whoever they want to serve with them. >> we heard administration is po d frankly. if she's qualified, she's qualified and we'll pick her why is the left wing m

janet yellin is vice chair of the fed. >> a number of things.one is we can't just skip a president and go back to president clinton's 13. there was a president in between. there was george bush's eight. i think the other thing we have to really pay attention to here, richard, is the fact that the president has also made monumental strides of appointments of judges. the only two supreme court nominations he's had, he has apied two women. i think it's terribly unfortunate for us to look at isolated incidents rather than the total picture. >> if he not to pick yellin and goes with summers, you're fine with that? >> i don't have a personal opinion about who he picks. i think it's most important that he picks a person that works well with the overall obama administration and does their very best to advance policies that not only impact the overall american public, but also people of color and women. so whoever is best suited for that job, that is who should be put in that role. >> robert, how does the administration navigate a summers decision if the

will it be janet yellin or larry summers to fill in one of the most important jobs?attle of the next federal chairman has been intense and highly unusual. >> in the old days, if you campaigned for it or people on your behalf campaigned for it, it looked bad. this whisper campaign on behalf of yellin and summers is really new in washington. >> reporter: democrats sent a letter to president obama urging him to pick yellin. but summers has people in higher places, too. bob rubin is reported until his corner. one thing is certain. bernanke's shoes will be big ones to fill. washingtonians loves the billion dolla -- money he pumps into it each month. >> she's been at bernanke's side for the past two years as vice chair. >> reporter: as second in command, yellin has deep respect inside the federal reserve. she's no stranger to politics, serving as vice chairman of the advisers under the president. summers, on the other hand, is a world-renowned economic superstar. he was director of the economic council under president obama and a former treasury secretary under clinton. he

you compare that to janet yellin who warned about the housing bubble in 2005, she foresaw the credits been deemed the most accurate federal reserve forecaster. i mean is it personal appeal? is it the relationship that they have? why the support for larry summers inside the white house? >> i don't think it's larry's personality, which has been kind of prickly and difficult for a lot of people. but i think it's because just like president clinton before him, president obama has got a lot of confidence in larry summers. that doesn't mean he doesn't have confidence in janet yellen and he could end up picking janet yellen. he preemptively defended susan rice when she was getting knocked around by republicans for benghazi but did not pick susan rice for secretary of state. i think there is a tremendous regard for larry summers' grasp of the complexity of the modern economy and what it needs to get it go again. he certainly is somebody who meets the test the president has set of understanding that there is in fact a dual mandate for the fed, not just controlling inflation but also getting t

will it be janet yellin or larry summers to fill one of the world's most important and demanding jobs the battle on both sides to influence the white house on the next federal reserve chairman has been intense and highly unusual. >> in the old days, if you campaigned for it or people on your behalf campaigned for it it looked bad. this whisper campaign on beof summers and yellen is new in washington. >> reporter: some democrats sent a letter to president obama urging him to pick yellen but summers has supporters in high places, too. tim geithner and bob reuben are both reportedly in his corner. one thing is certain. bernanke's shoes will be big ones to fill. wall street loves the tens of billions of stimulus he pumps into the economy each month. summers is skeptical and yellen is believed to be in favor. >> yellen is seen as continuity with bernanke. she's been at bernanke's side for the past two years as the vice chair. they coordinate policy together. >> reporter: yellen has deep respect inside the federal reserve. she is no stranger to politics, servesing a chairman of the white ho

some would rather see janet yellin. if it comes down to the president says this is my guy for the fed, get in line behind it, they're going to do that. >> he supports the people he believes and trusts like susan rice. not going to step back on that. >> he's not. the idea is that this is a guy the president knows and trusts. janet yellin is not something he knows so well. >> there's been a lot of controversial appointments this year. the only one, rice at no time go through. mel watts, looking like that one's hanging in limbo. for the rest of them he's managed to get them through. summers doesn't quite get to the mel watt sort of -- >> there's not the policy disagreements that republicans have with mel watt on housing reform. they obviously block him to the end of the day. that won't be the case on summers, i don't think. i think republicans would be equally, you know, likely to block a yellen as they would a summers. i don't think the white house thinks they'll get any more republican opposition to summers. >> what abou

former head of national economic council, and treasury secretary under president clinton, and janet yellin, the first woman to head the fed. >> 70, 80% of value, yellin will be the nominee. and if it would be someone else, summers, there has to be market adjustment. >> reporter: that adjustment would likely be down. but wouldn't last longs. given the fed's dual mandate, keeping inflation low and employment high, the latter should be the focus. >> the challenge is not inflation, the challenge is we've got too many people out of work, too many long term unemployed. >> reporter: yellin thought to continue the policies to keep interest rates low until unemployment is down to 5 or 6%. years of money printing and borrowing to climb out of the great recession have some conservatives worried we may already be sliding to inflation without recognizing the symptoms. some economists think that makes summers the president's favorite. >> even friday he said we have a dual mandate, whoever i pick has to realize that the fed's job is to oppose inflation, not just promote employment. and that's a dig at so

. >> let's talk about the two leading candidates, starting with janet yellin, several democratic senators a letter from the president. pros and cons? >> all pros from me. i think janet yellen who has experience at the federal reserve is the intellectual heir apparent to ben bernanke. she has been so integrally involved in setting a policy at this juncture during this time of recession, crisis, deflation, getting the economy back on its feet. i think she would be exactly the right person at the exact right time. i don't think necessarily that larry summers is temperamentally suited to run the fed. and i also think his views on some of the policies the fed has undertaken might not be appropriate for this time either. >> let me make that point, larry summers was portrayed in "the social network" a few years ago. >> that's all right. >> this idea is potentially worth millions of dollars. >> millions? >> yes. >> you might be letting your imaginations run away with you. >> sir, i don't think you're in any position to make that call. >> let me tell you something, mr. winklevoss, mr. winklevoss,

debate about larry summers, the president really likes and wants, versus the woman who is the -- janet yellin is the vice chair and very experienced economist. >> two points. one, the last time the president really vouched for somebody that he was close to, susan rice, didn't get that job. so i don't think interpreting -- overinterpreting his defense means that somehow summers is a front-runner. maybe some have argued this morning, that really terminates his candidacy. >> you could say that susan rice got an even better job in the end, closer to the oval office. >> you could certainly make that argument. depends on what was seen as the plunge up. the other point is some of the frick in the democratic party right now over the economy. i think this fed position plays very importantly in to that role. you think about senator elizabeth warren and that wing of progressives and how they view monetary policy, i think there is an internal fight here politically and economically that will weigh on this choice. >> samantha power, sworn in today by joe biden. there was a white house photo. no other cove

and frankly, i think both larry summers and janet yellin are highly qualified candidates. there are a couple of other candidates who are highly qualified as well. i will make the decision in the fall. >> defending larry summers as robustly as you just did [indiscernible] >> i just told you i haven't. i would do the same for you somebody was saying something about you that wasn't true. [laughter] i really would.in fact i have done that in the white house. [laughter] carol lee. imagination is.congratulations on hudson. do you have pictures? >> i do. thank you for making it a slow news week. i want to ask you about the surveillance issues. restoring the public trust and the public has seen you evolve from when you were in the u.s. senate to now and even as recently as june. you said that the process was such that people should be comfortable with it and now you are saying that you're making these reforms so that people will be comfortable with those. so why the -- so why should the public trust you on this issue and why did you change your position miserable times -- position

of criticism, especially on the democratic side, we know that people frequently point out that janet yellin has a much higher rate of predictions being accurate, than then many others. so who should be the next chairman of the federal reserve. and even people who suggest that you would be a very fine choice. >> well, on the summers-yellin issue, i mean they are both very good economists. they would each be a very good chairman of the fed or whatever, chair of the fed. and janet has more experience in the fed. larry has more experience in the government. and it's very hard for an outsider to know. i would say that larry is really one of the outstanding economists of the euro when he was still an academic economist. he won the prize for youngest --. >> rose: i think it was youngest tenured professor at harvard. >> and he won the prize of best american economist under 40, and all that. he's really very, very good. he hasn't done as much central banking. he must by now know central banking very well. and janet is-- . >> rose: if he hasn't he has been asleep. >> and january set a very safe pair

will he really be a tighter-fisted fed chairman than janet yellin? the markets seem to think so. but wasn't summers the big trillion-dollar stimulus spending guy in obama's first term? and speaking of fears, has team obama totally botched the egypt situation? there can be no compromise here, folks. american interests lie with the egyptian army, not with the radical and terrorist muslim brotherhood. all those stories and much more coming up this evening on "the kudlow report." beginning right now. >>> good evening, everyone. i'm larry kudlow. this is "the kudlow report." first up tonight, after delivering a number of economic growth speeches this summer, president obama has still failed to provide any economic growth message. in fact, the tax, spend, and mandate obama care plan is a huge drag on the economy. and on top of that the president's idea of corporate tax reform is really a tax grab for all his pet spending projects. there's no sign of the keystone pipeline. an epa war against coal and fossil fuel. and a double whammy of investor tax hikes and new regulation. so i ask why

janet yellen. >> nothing official. but cnbc reporting yellin will be passed over in favor of larry summers, the former head of harvard, former secretary of the treasury clurg the clinton administration. he's extremely wealthy. he has ties to the bay area and serves on the board of directors at a high-tech lending club and is good friends with cheryl sandburg of facebook in the white suit. sandburg served as summers' chief of staff. facebook did well monday flirting with new all-time midday highs. let's get a look at trading this morning. jackie deangelis is live at cnbc headquarters. good morning, jackie. >> good morning, scott. futures are lower after we saw stocks slumping into the close on monday afternoon. markets turning negative following comments by secretary of state john kerry about evidence that syria did use chemical weapons and attacks near damascus last week opening up the possibility of a u.s.-led military strikes. investors fled stocks for assets like oil, topping $107 a barrel today and also gold which is a safe haven investment

janet yellen. you see her, be the first female chair. some people think when the president accidentally referred to her as mr. yellin, caught himself, might have been tipping his hands that he's more likely to pick a man. >> we told you yesterday a new fox news point case 57% of registered voters feel implementation of the president's health care law is a joke. the president wasn't laughing today. chief political correspondent telling us he went off on critics of his signature legislation and their tactics. >> reporter: asked about obamacare upcoming registration period responded to a attack on what he called the gop's ideological sensation with doing away with it. >> why it is that my friends in the other party have made the idea of preventing these people from getting health care their holy grail. >> reporter: the president faced bipartisan criticism for you'll laterally postponing obamacare. blasting 77 republicans and senators for shutting down the government, threatening if they do not foov moerd the affordable care a. the idea would you shut down the government unless you prevent 30 million people from getting