The Boston Globe reported yesterday that Cass Sunstein, President Obama's old friend from the University of Chicago and co-author of Nudge, has left his position as the head of the White House's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs to return to his position as a professor at Harvard University Law School. For the past three and a half years, Sunstein has had the responsibility to vet all new regulations approved by the federal government, so more than anyone else he is the man behind all those "job-killing regulations" the GOP and its standard bearer are constantly complaining about.
According to the Globe, here are some of the responses to Sunstein's work by Republicans and representatives of national business organizations:
John Graham, who held the office under George W. Bush:
He was a strong force for creative policy solutions in a political environment that was highly polarized.
Huh, say what?
John Engler, former Republican governor of Michigan and currently the head of the Business Roundtable:
Cass accepted the input of business, sought balance, and understood that regulations do have costs. We hope his replacement will strike the same tone.
Ok, something's wrong here. Praise from the GOP and business, and not a word about job-killing regulations. Somebody has to have some criticism of this guy, right?
Well, here's Rena Steinzor, the president of the Center for Progressive Reform:
In the final analysis, Sunstein has continued the Bush administration’s tradition of using the office to block needed health and safety protections disliked by big business and political contributors. Sunstein’s departure is an opportunity for the administration to reset its regulatory policy and embrace public health and safety protections that have long been stalled in the White House.
Just goes to show there are two worlds out there. One, defined by GOP political rhetoric. The other, the one we actually live in...
By the way, Benjamin Wallace-Wells profiled Sunstein in the New York Times Magazine shortly after his appointment to OIRA. Interesting read.