Only one week ago, Clinton appeared to show some dissatisfaction with the Fed's growth policy when--in his first open criticism of the bank as president--he called for a more vigorous debate about the best rate of sustainable growth. He declared that there could be wide social benefits if the growth rate were coaxed to 2.7% or 2.8% per year, for example, from the 2.5% that it has averaged for 25 years.
And Clinton had been publicly debating appointment of investment banker Felix Rohatyn, an outspoken advocate of faster growth, before Senate Republicans made clear that they would reject that choice.
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Facing an election year and a liberal wing of the Democratic Party that was not altogether happy with Greenspan, the White House toyed with the idea of combining the inflation-conscious chairman with a more liberal vice chairman.
Other possibilities included, in addition to Rohatyn, Peter Kennan, an international economist at Princeton; Robert Shapiro, a Clinton economic advisor in 1992; and Eugene Ludwig, former comptroller of the currency.
But it has been clear for months that Greenspan probably would remain as chairman, White House officials said. "The presumption was from the beginning that it would be difficult to make a change there," one senior official said.