Former Obama Aide Summers Withdraws from Fed Chair Consideration

Lawrence Summers, a former top economic aide to President Barack Obama and a Treasury Secretary under President Bill Clinton, has withdrawn from consideration to succeed Ben Bernanke as Federal Reserve chairman, The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday.

"I have reluctantly concluded that any possible confirmation process for me would be acrimonious and would not serve the interest of the Federal Reserve, the administration or, ultimately, the interests of the nation's ongoing economic recovery," Summers said in a letter to Obama that followed a phone call to the president, the newspaper reported.