Gene Sperling

Why He Matters

If he gets a job in the new administration, Sperling’s desk will likely be disorganized; he’ll be drinking coffee or Diet Coke and working longer hours than anyone else. He’s occupied White House offices in the past, and consistently managed a 110-hour work week.Page, Susan, "Economic adviser Sperling: The keeper of Clintonomics, USA Today, May 15, 1997 With the current economic crisis, Sperling will have to rely on his workaholic habits if he officially joins Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's team. For now, he is helping as an informal adviser.

A former Clinton economic aide and National Economic Council director, Sperling joined Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign as an adviser. When Clinton failed to grab the Democratic nomination, Sperling’s chances to join a Democratic presidential administration as a top staffer plummeted.

But by working hand-in-hand with Geithner, Sperling, one of President Bill Clinton’s economic “MVP['s],” will have a significant influence on how the Obama administration tries to steer the nation through the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.Chandler, Clay, "Sperling Named NEC Director; Clinton Selects Loyal, Hard-Working Aide," The Washington Post, Dec. 14, 1996

Path to Power

A native son of Ann Arbor, Mich., Sperling went to Minnesota University as an undergraduate, captaining the tennis team in 1981 before heading to Yale Law School. Yale classmates noticed even then Sperling’s work ethic and almost obsessive ability to study public policy.

"He basically never left his library cubicle," said Christian Merkling, a Sperling classmate. "He was obsessed with policy to an extent that made it difficult for even those of us interested in policy to talk to him. He was so wound up in the maze of whatever he was involved with."Hilzenrath, David S. and Mufson, Steven, "Keeper of the Flame; Gene Sperling, at Clinton's Right Hand on the Economy," The Washington Post, May 9, 1993

While in law school, Sperling worked summers under Clinton Labor Secretary Robert Reich, when Reich lectured at Harvard. He also joined the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Legal Defense Fund and the National Abortion Rights Action League. Only a few months after graduating from Yale in 1985, Sperling helped defend a case in front of the U.S. Supreme Court, arguing for a Michigan school district’s affirmative action policies against the Justice Department during the Reagan administration. Sperling spent some time at the Wharton School of Business, but he left to join Michael Dukakis’ 1988 presidential campaign before he could finish his MBA studies.

After Dukakis’s defeat, Sperling went to work for Harvard law Professor Laurence Tribe and in 1990 joined New York Governor Mario Cuomo’s (D) office hoping to work on a presidential campaign in 1992, as Cuomo was considered a possible candidate. But Cuomo didn’t run.Hilzenrath, David S. and Mufson, Steven, "Keeper of the Flame; Gene Sperling, at Clinton's Right Hand on the Economy," The Washington Post, May 9, 1993

While working for Dukakis, Sperling had worked closely with economic gurus Lawrence Summers, Robert Rubin and Reich. They recommended him to Bill Clinton, who brought him aboard his 1992 presidential campaign as director of economic policy. When Clinton won, Sperling joined the White House as the deputy director of the National Economic Council (NEC). Three years later, he jumped to NEC director after his boss, Rubin, moved to the Treasury.

Sperling was one of the few administration officials who lasted all eight years of the Clinton administration. After George W. Bush took office in 2000, Sperling left for various think-tanks like the Brookings Institution and the Council on Foreign Relations. He also wrote a book and spent some time as a consultant and writer on the television drama “The West Wing.”

The Issues

Sperling's main task during the Clinton presidency was reducing the $290 billion deficit when Clinton took office in 1992.Wallace, Kelly, "President Clinton announces another record budget surplus," CNN, Sept. 27, 2000 But President Obama is coping with the opposite problem: how to inject money fast enough into a flailing economy in order to rescue it from a perilous downturn.

The Network

Sperling has a long list of friends that worked in the Clinton administration and advised Obama during his 2008 presidential campaign, some of whom nabbed White House jobs. The new NEC Director Lawrence Summers worked at the Treasury when Sperling was at the NEC. Summers and Sperling both worked on Dukakis’ 1988 presidential campaign, along with former Clinton Labor Secretary Robert Reich and ex-White House Communications Director George Stephanopoulos. Rubin was Sperling’s NEC boss from 1993 to 1996.

Former Clinton Chief of Staff John Podesta started the liberal think tank Center for American Progress, where Sperling spent some time doing research from 2003 to 2008. 

Campaign Contributions