Leonhardt had an interesting profile of Larry Summers in
the NYT yesterday. Leonhardt reckons that Summers could (and probably should)
become a Democratic Henry Kissinger, intimately involved in policy decisions
despite not having an official government job.
Leonhardt also notes that Summers now has a "lucrative" part-time
job at hedge fund DE Shaw – and given that John Edwards made half a million
bucks at Fortress Group just for a consulting gig, you can be sure that Summers’s
remuneration at DE Shaw is well into the seven figures.
So why, in that case, does Summers, in the accompanying photograph (left, by
Nigel Parry), seem to be wearing the world’s most ill-fitting suit? I can think
of five possible explanations:
- Summers refuses to admit to himself that he’s gained weight, and therefore
still buys suits in his old size.
- Summers likes to present himself as a classic rumpled forgetful professor,
and therefore deliberately buys suits which don’t fit.
- Summers really is a classic rumpled forgetful professor, and showed
up to the NYT photoshoot wearing an old, ill-fitting suit.
- Nigel Parry, the photographer, or his stylist, wanted to present Summers
as a classic rumpled forgetful professor, and therefore put him in an ill-fitting
suit.
- Nigel Parry, the photographer, or his stylist, made a mistake, and somehow
ended up putting Summers into an ill-fitting suit, but hey, it made for a
great photo, because everybody likes to see their former Treasury secretaries
looking like Tweedledee occasionally.
Anybody got any better ideas?