Alan Krueger picked to lead the Council of Economic Advisers by Jackie Calmes

The cooler reception came from some on the left, who said the moment called for a big-picture macroeconomist who would push for more ambitious initiatives to reduce unemployment. "The kind of action he’s an aggressive and creative thinker about is relatively small bore, supply-side changes rather than big-picture efforts to fill the gap," Matthew Yglesias, a senior fellow at the liberal Center for American Progress, wrote in a blog.

Mark Thoma, Jared Bernstein, DeLong and Krugman are happy with the choice.