Sunday, March 22, 2009

Fire Geithner (and Summers While You're At It)

Am I being too hard on Geither and Summers, Obama's economic team? I don't think so.

I am certainly not anti-Obama. I want the man to succeed. I admire the man, even love him, as much as one can 'love' a politician you've never met. And I have no problem with, for example, Secretary of Defense Gates, even though he's a Republican. Pretty much everyone agrees he's most likely doing a great job, and it was a good move for Obama to keep him.

Ditto Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. I don't see anyone complaining about her, at least yet. She seems to be digging in and doing her job. Good pick, Obama.

But there is so much complaining and griping about Geithner simply because he isn't doing the job, and so many people whose opinion I respect see it. (Of course we may be all wrong, and if that proves to be the case, I'll love Obama even more.)

But I have to say that I get sick of Obama 'taking the responsibility' for the mistakes of Geithner. That is an empty statement, unless he disciplines Geithner or removes him, and replaces him with an economic Gates or Clinton. Until he does that, all of this other stuff like going on Jay Leno is just going to be fluff and showboating, that will simply fly back in his face and undermine his authority and power. And Lord knows, we need a leader NOW.

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