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The Daily Tar Heel

Right man for the job: Bowles right for role leading de?cit committee

Erskine Bowles is good enough, smart enough, and doggone it, people like him.

And he was a good choice to serve asa co-chairman of the Obama Administration’s bipartisan National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform.

As he finishes his tenure as president of the UNC system, he will also be spending time where his expertise is equally, if not more, needed.

Bowles is to be the lead Democrat overseeing an 18-member panel charged with the daunting task of tackling the federal debt. Former U.S. Sen. Alan Simpson, R-Wyo., will serve as Bowles’ co-chairman.

The task will be to bring down the federal budget deficit to 3 percent of gross domestic product by 2015. Today, the deficit stands at about 10 percent of the GDP.

Bowles, renowned for both his success in the private sector and more importantly, his significant record of public service as White House Chief of Staff under Bill Clinton, packs an impressive resume. He is an excellent choice to help lead the president’s commission.

A Tar Heel from the class of 1967, Bowles went on to get his master’s of business administration from Columbia University in 1969.

Bowles began his career in the financial sector at Morgan Stanley and Co., and later founded Bowles Hollowell Connor & Co., a successful investment banking firm in Charlotte. He went on to found two other companies, acquiring a knack for organizational management, particularly in the financial sector.

In 1993, Bowles joined the public sector, serving as the Clinton administration’s director of the Small Business Administration. In 1996, Bowles was named White House Chief of Staff, a position he maintained until 1998.

After leaving the Clinton White House, Bowles returned to the private sector until becoming the president of the UNC system in 2006. He announced Friday that he will step down by the end of the year.

Needless to say, Bowles’ track record of vast experience and achievement in economic enterprise and challenging matters of state bodes well as he works to solve one of our nation’s most troubling problems.

As he completes his term as UNC-system president, we can rest assured that the Obama administration chose the right man for the job and that Bowles will continue to serve us in a greater capacity.

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