A former close Clinton approached the economic council of the White House

President Barack Obama will appoint Friday, January 7 at the head Gene Sperling, National Economic Council (NEC), a position he had previously served in the Clinton administration, said a senior U.S. official. Mr. Sperling, 52, would succeed Lawrence Summers, who announced at the end of the summer his desire to return to university after working in the massive plan to revive the economy adopted during the first weeks of Obama's presidency in early 2009.

The new adviser will continue to guide the President through the aftermath of the recession of 2007-2009, whose effects on the labor market are still being acutely felt. Even if the economic situation of the Clinton years (1993-2001) was radically different, with solid growth and unemployment remaining, Mr.

Sperling will find a familiar situation for a Democratic president in the face of Republican lawmakers in the majority. Gene Sperling was appointed to the position of Director of NEC during the second term of Bill Clinton, after having been an assistant in the first. He was closely negotiated with the Republican majority of the time series of economic policies, including a balanced budget that still refers to Mr.

Obama. He also worked on the development of NAFTA, free trade agreement with Mexico and Canada in 1994, and negotiations prior to the entry of China into the World Trade Organization in 2001. Mr. Sperling, the reputation of centrist Democrat, was previously a key advisor to the Treasury secretary, Timothy Geithner, and one of the architects of the tax compromise announced in early December between Mr.

Obama and the Republicans, and who has offended some of the democratic left. It is also the second veteran of the Clinton administration to join Mr. Obama, after the announcement Thursday of the arrival of former Commerce Secretary William Daley, the secretary general of the White House.

Unusual line on a resume of professional politician, Mr. Sperling wrote the scenarios for four episodes of the television series "The West Wing" (1999-2006), partly inspired by the mandates of Mr. Clinton.

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