The Trump White House could sure use a passionate and persuasive advocate for the value of free markets and open economies. And it is my hope that Larry Kudlow will ably fill that role as the new director of the National Economic Council.

But I can see how people might disagree with the appointment. Perhaps you think the role should be filled by a Ph.D. economist, which Kudlow isn’t. Fine. Nor has Kudlow recently been in a position with significant management responsibilities. Also a perfectly reasonable opinion. And I myself have become highly critical of Kudlow’s “supply-side” economics and the almost magical power it attributes to tax cuts.

(Then again, perhaps, better a super-optimist than someone who might want to, say, dismantle the global trading system that has produced peace, prosperity, and drawn a billion people out of deep poverty.)