Paul Volcker will head a new White House economic advisory board, reports the Wall Street Journal’s Johnathan Weisman. The 81 year-old Volcker, the Federal Reserve chairman in the 1980′s, will head the Economic Recovery Advisory Board, intended to help dig the country out of a recession. Austan Goolsbee, a University of Chicago economist and prominent Obama campaign adviser, will be the board’s staff director.

A high-profile pick like Volcker for this new position could be shrewd since Volcker might have the confidence and gravitas to challenge Larry Summers, who will be head of the National Economic Council.

A separate question about Obama’s economic team is what will be the role of current Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Chairman Sheila Bair. The Journal’s Damien Paletta notes that Bair has often clashed with incoming Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, most recently over the Citigroup bailout.

Few have acquitted themselves as well as Bair during the financial crisis. She has been a needed voice of skepticism about Treasury’s bailout fever. And she’s pushed a concrete plan to help homeowners, despite Henry Paulson’s objections.

"Team of rivals" is not just painful cliché. It’s also inaccurate, at least in terms of describing Obama’s economics appointments. Keeping Bair, though, would indicate that Obama is serious about hearing viewpoints that might veer from the Geithner, Summers status quo.-MB

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