Now is the Summers of Our Discontent

Larry Summers just can't buy a break these days. It's getting to the point where the Harvard President ought to have the word "embattled" printed before his name on business cards. Having weathered the storms he created by alienating the African-American Studies department, women in science and math generally, and Native Americans, Summers has now moved on to just firing a respected administrator (a white male one, no less!) and using oodles of University money to settle federal lawsuits against a professor close to him.

In light of all this, Bostonist found a story from this weekend amusing: On Friday, Summers addressed a gathering of over 600 who were celebrating the beginning of the Jewish sabbath. He was greeted with vigorous applause, but because electrical amplification can't be used on the sabbath, he had to work without a mic, and most of the people there couldn't hear him. What does this mean? Nothing really, but when they make the E! True Hollywood Story of Summers's fall from Treasury Secretary to woman-chasing booze-hound, this will surely be portrayed as a turning point.