While we were glad to see Peter Orszag tapped to head OMB, we were equally sad to see the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) robbed of such an outstanding leader.

But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's (D-CA) selection Douglas W. Elmendorf to succeed Orszag indicates we shouldn't be too upset. Elmendorf has plenty of experience in government economic analysis (The Fed, Treasury, Council of Economic Advisors, and CBO), and like Orszag, Elmendorf has headed up the Brooking Institution's Hamilton Project.

Elmendorf was a few steps ahead of Treasury Secretary Paulson in favoring capital injections into banks (though, not without reservations). His paper on the distributional effects 2001-2003 Bush tax cuts employed an interesting angle. And while I can't claim that I'm extremely familiar with the rest Elmendorf's work, his publications at Brookings indicate that he will continue to lead the CBO in the same competent and responsible manner as Orszag.