Larry Summers, former Harvard professor and now President Obama’s economic advisor, is courting controversy after a major economic policy speech in which he made an unexpected observation.

“Google hits for economic depression have returned to baseline levels.”

Even though it was the final point in his update of the current situation, and possibly meant as a wonky joke, Politico picked up on the observation in their lead.

“Larry Summers Cites Google Search as Progress”

Bloggers on the right followed Politico’s trail and jumped on Summers for the comment.

“If Google says it then it must be true...Either that or people are losing their internet because they can’t afford it anymore after they lost their jobs because the stimulus has been so successful.” (RightPundits.com)

The New Ledger echoed Right Pundits, but focused on alternative google searches.

“And what about other Google searches that might concern us? Summers says nothing about how many people are searching terms like “unemployment,” or “foreclosure,” or “double-dip recession,” or even “Nouriel Roubini.”

Newsy actually did check out that last search term.  

Here’s what we found.

Newsweek says Nouriel Roubini is one of the few economists who accurately predicted the magnitude of the financial crisis. Even though some call him Dr. Doom, Roubini agrees with Summers and says the worst of the turmoil is over.

“There is light at the end of the tunnel... And the light at the end of the tunnel for once is not an incoming train.”

Still, at least some commentators were listening to the rest of what Summers had to say at Institute for International Economics, or IIE.  Paul Krugman of the New York Times wrote in his blog about Summers presentation on the economic stimulus program.

"The speech Larry Summers gave at the IIE was sensible and clear-headed. But his discussion of the stimulus and its size was disappointing — and, I hope, somewhat disingenuous."

As NPR noted earlier this year, the White House chose Summers over Tim Geithner to do just this sort of communication.

“Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner has been the administration's point man on the economy. Some feel that he has not been an effective messenger. When Geithner first presented a bank bailout plan, the stock market took a dive. Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, who is the White House economic advisor, appears to be taking on a larger role, and may eclipse anything that Geithner says in the coming weeks.”

So, do you think Larry Summers can effectively communicate President Obama’s economic policies?

Thumbnail photo by World Economic Forum