Matt Yglesias

Gordon to OMB

Some new appointees for the Office of Management and Budget including CAP Senior Fellow Robert Gordon:

Jeffrey Liebman, now Malcolm Wiener professor of public policy at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, will be executive associate director of the Office of Management and Budget. Robert Gordon, policy director for Kerry’s presidential campaign in 2004, will be associate director for education, income maintenance, and labor. And Xavier de Souza Briggs, associate professor of sociology and urban planning at MIT, will be associate director for general government programs. (Their biographies, provided by Obama’s transition office, are below.)

Liebman has written against “carve-outs” of private accounts from the existing Social Security system but in favor of add-on accounts. Don’t know anything about de Souza Briggs.

Gordon is awesome. I especially recommend these articles on teacher certification, crime, and conservative myths about the Community Reinvestment Act.

But beyond these qualities, he has the to help Peter Orszag build a true Team of Bloggers at the OMB. Not only did Orszag run the top public sector blog back during his days as CBO Director, but Robert’s been an important member of CAPAF’s Wonk Room team as well as an occasional contributor to TNR’s blogs. You can see his Wonk Room posts here. I think there hasn’t been official word on whether or not there will be an OMB blog (OMBBLOG), but I’m really hoping to see one.