Summers debate highlights Obama fissures with Dems

WASHINGTON (AP) — Once again, President Barack Obama has been forced to abandon a friend and ally he wanted to nominate for a top job.

But this time, the resistance that pushed Lawrence Summers to withdraw from consideration for Federal Reserve chairman came from Obama’s own Democratic base, not the conservatives who fought against him nominating Susan Rice as secretary of state. The opposition to Summers came at the end of a summer that also exposed other fissures between the White House and Democrats, many of whom are frustrated by revelations about the Obama administration’s secret government spying programs and the president’s support for military action in Syria.