Newt Gingrich backs Boehner's call to fire advisers Geithner and Summers

Newt Gingrich has endorsed House GOP leader John Boehner's demand that President Obama fire his top economic advisers.

The former Republican Speaker said Boehner (R-Ohio) is correct in calling on Obama to fire Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and National Economic Council Director Lawrence Summers for their handling of the economy.

"John Boehner is exactly right," Gingrich wrote in his newsletter, distributed by the conservative website Human Events. "While President Obama cannot be blamed for causing the recession, it was the actions of his administration (and his accomplices in the Democratic Congress) which have artificially extended the length of this recession and caused more pain for the American people."

Gingrich, who led Republicans back into the majority during the 1994 congressional elections, went further in praising Boehner, the Ohio lawmaker who would likely become Speaker if Republicans win control of the House in this fall's elections.

"John Boehner has good standing to lead the charge for a change in direction in our economic policies," Gingrich wrote, heaping praise on Boehner for his personal background and his role in the GOP leadership when the Georgia Republican was Speaker.

The renewed calls for Geithner and Summers's firing might also be seen within the context of Gingrich's own potential political future. He's a potential 2012 challenger to Obama, and has said he'll evaluate whether to run for president earlier next year.

Obama, for his part, has seemed to largely brush off Boehner's demand for the firing of the top economic officials. He took time out of his vacation last week to call Geithner and Summers, and the pair appeared with the president at the White House earlier this week.

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