Larry Summers Will Leave White House After Midterms

President Obama's top economic adviser plans to leave the administration at the end of the year, the White House said today. Lawrence Summers will leave his post as director of the National Economic Council to return to Harvard University, where he once served as president before being forced out in the aftermath of a remark about women's abilities in math and science. The departure comes amid a sluggish economic recovery that has seen unemployment hover near 10%.

Summers would be the third high-level member of the Obama economic team to leave this year, following the resignations of budget director Peter Orszag and Christina Romer, head of the Council of Economic Advisers. (More Obama administration stories.)