The economics blogger considers Ron Suskind’s The Confidence Men (which I’m just starting to read, at last).

…no one yet has better documented the bumptiousness of [Larry] Summers, who has convinced himself, and many others, that he should return to head the Treasury Department, or, better yet, replace Ben Bernanke as chairman of the Federal Reserve Board. That’s not exactly news, of course. You could tell it from the leaks. And Suskind writes about what happened when Summers, “outraged and petulant,” learned that he wouldn’t get the job at the Fed:

“He started to list demands to Rahm [Emanuel]: a round of golf with Obama. He wanted to walk into major events, such as signature speeches or the State of the Union, with the cabinet, a privilege not given even to the senior-most advisory posts. And he wanted a car and driver, like Geithner had. The behavior was, for want of a better term, childish, and the Obama team’s attitude toward Larry began to shift from frustration, and sometimes fear, to eye-rolling incredulity.” [He got two rounds of golf with POTUS. and, when he left office, a sterling silver putter from the boss – but no car.]

As I’ve mentioned before: No one who read Harvard Rules would be the least bit surprised by this stuff (especially not the part about the car). I don’t mean to boast, but because I’ve always thought that the book didn’t get the credit it deserved—and that the nation could have been spared some pain if Barack Obama had read it—I would amend Warsh’s sentence to say that “no one has yet better documented the bumptiousness of Summers in Washington.” The story of Summers’ erratic and egomaniacal behavior in Cambridge was already told.

That said: Now we know why Larry Summers took up golf.

Also: Larry Summers as Fed chair? The mind shudders.