Embattled Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner looms large in John Heilemann's New York magazine piece detailing the Obama administration's increasingly strained relationship with Wall Street. And if his reporting is any indication, the president and the Treasury Secretary still have an ongoing "man-crush" on each other.
Since he took over in early 2009, Geithner has been seen by many as an embodiment of the Wall Street establishment. Heilemann notes that he's been accused of working for Goldman Sachs -- even by members of the mainstream press. (Geithner, a regulator by trade, has never worked for any Wall Street bank.)
Geithner emerged as a candidate for Treasury Secretary after former Fed chairman Paul Volcker, then 81, was ruled out and Larry Summers, the former president of Harvard, was deemed too politically divisive, Heilemann reports. After taking the helm at Treasury, Geithner quickly became Obama's confidant through a combination of his moderate political leanings and a hesitancy to enforce sweeping, broad changes to the financial system. Here's Heilemann:
Indeed, the president's support for his Treasury secretary has been unwavering. (Axelrod would laugh at rumors that Geithner was about to get the boot: "Don't these people realize they have a man-crush on each other?") And Obama's loyalty has been repaid with results. Geithner's stabilization plan is now widely regarded as having worked -- mainly thanks to the once-derided "stress tests" that he imposed on the banks, which showed the world that their circumstances weren't as dire as many feared and let them raise the requisite capital to get back on their feet.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/24/obama-and-geithner-have-a_n_587150.htmlComes across the same in Alter's book as well The Promise.
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