FWIW, I actually think Geithner would make a better Treasury Secretary for Obama. He’s younger (yes, I’m ageist, so what?), and has been in the trenches of this crisis since the beginning, he’s probably one of the 5 people in the world who knows the current financial system best. Summers is a very gifted economist and was a competent Treasury Secretary, but is that enough in the circumstances, when what matters most is intimate, practical knowledge of the current markets and key players?
Plus, and I hate to do this, there’s the issue of Summers’ temperament. He was humbled by the Harvard fiascos, but given the intense pressures he would face, would he always have the right touch in handling key people in Wall Street and Congress (places whose denizens are not known for their humility), when so much is a matter of perception, something he has disastrously handled in the past?
I think Summers would be a very smart choice for McCain (bipartisan, a twitchy old hand appointing a twitchy old hand) but Obama can afford the best.
Yay!
I totally absolutely unequivocably agree.
— matoko_chan · Nov 2, 10:02 PM · #
That would be awesome indeed. Would he appoint Cornel West Undersecretary for Hip-Hop Research?
— PEG · Nov 3, 11:02 AM · #
FWIW, I actually think Geithner would make a better Treasury Secretary for Obama. He’s younger (yes, I’m ageist, so what?), and has been in the trenches of this crisis since the beginning, he’s probably one of the 5 people in the world who knows the current financial system best. Summers is a very gifted economist and was a competent Treasury Secretary, but is that enough in the circumstances, when what matters most is intimate, practical knowledge of the current markets and key players?
Plus, and I hate to do this, there’s the issue of Summers’ temperament. He was humbled by the Harvard fiascos, but given the intense pressures he would face, would he always have the right touch in handling key people in Wall Street and Congress (places whose denizens are not known for their humility), when so much is a matter of perception, something he has disastrously handled in the past?
I think Summers would be a very smart choice for McCain (bipartisan, a twitchy old hand appointing a twitchy old hand) but Obama can afford the best.
— PEG · Nov 3, 11:14 AM · #
Alternatively, Summers might bring some shake-up to the position of the President’s Science Advisor.
— otto · Nov 3, 11:28 AM · #
Or head of the President’s Committee on Gender Equality. (Snicker) Sorry. Couldn’t help it.
— PEG · Nov 3, 11:48 AM · #