President Barack Obama appointed Gene Sperling as his director of the National Economic Council Friday, placing a Washington veteran with a bipartisan track record in the White House as the administration contends with a divided Congress.

Sperling’s appointment coincided with the release of the December jobs report that showed the unemployment rate dropping to 9.4 percent, its lowest level in nearly two years. But job growth fell short of expectations, and Obama said that Sperling, along with other newly appointed members of the economic team, have a challenging task ahead. Get the full story »