To meet the greatest challenge of our lifetime, Barack Obama has assembled a team of one single solitary person, Timothy Geithner. And Obama has given him zero support, zero help and placed absolutely no priority on building Geithner's team.
While Barack Obama does the only thing his vast experience as a community organizer has trained him to do, organize block parties in California to support his yet to be defined Health Reform Proposals, Geithner is fighting for all our lives, completely alone.
By every account I've ever read or heard, Geithner is a very bright and very able Treasury Secretary. But it's been 59 days in the midst of Pearl Harbor and Obama can't find the time to put together a team. He can't find the time to nominate a single person. Not one.
The bombs, like the AIG bonuses, are dropping by the tens of thousands. Our entire harbor of economic ships are sinking. The enemy planes own the sky's and bombs drop at will. And no reinforcements are on the way. No troops. No anti-aircraft batteries. No aerial support. Nothing. Geithner is fighting all alone.
The best Obama can do is send an "attaboy Tim" as he organizes those block parties and prepares for a yuk-a-minute comedy fest on Jay Leno.
As bloggers, especially Republican and conservative bloggers, call for Geithner's head, their anger is aimed at the wrong person. It is Barack Obama who should resign.
If any other President had ever handled a major crisis with the complete disregard for the welfare of the country that Obama has exhibited over the last 59 days, their would be calls for his (or her) head.
When the hell will Obama realize he has become the problem and is doing a whole lot less than nothing to solve the problem? Every day Timothy Geithner goes without the administration nominating his support staff is a battle lost in our greatest war ever. And if we lose the top man because Obama was just too damned distracted to be bothered to help his Treasury Secretary, Obama will get and will deserve all the blame.
Conservative Rick Moran has written a very intelligent defense of the Obama Administration's handling of the AIG crisis. Moran makes some of the same points that I do, but draws some different conclusions. It is well worth reading.
I will be writing more about HR1586, the populist Bonus Tax Act passed today by the House of Representatives, in the next few days. This is a really terrible bill that flies in the face of the rule of law that is the cornerstone of all of American society. Plus it's just plain stupid. Let's hope everyone calms down in the next few days. It is the Obama CYA Act of 2009.
Finally today Day By Day cartoon is really funny. I'm reprinting it here:
11 comments:
Wow.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/20/business/20aig.html?hp
A.I.G. Sues U.S. for Return of $306 Million in Tax Payments.
Hats off to Senator John McCain, who may be reverting to his pre-2000 Maverick form. McCain speaks up for Timothy Geithner, pointing out that Geithner has no other heavy hitter appointed in the Treasury to help shoulder and share the decision-making burden. McCain was one of the few Republicans to support Geithner's nomination, and now says of the Treasury Secretary "Everyone acknowledges he needs help" and that he "should be given a chance to succeed".
Financial Times.
While it appears that Geithner is flailing mightily, your points are certainly well taken. Perhaps he does need to be given more of a chance.
Yes, it seems that there are a lot more calls for Geithner's head coming from the left than from the right. This plays right in to my notion that Obama will get more grief from the left in his own party than from anywhere else.
Wizard writes:
"Obama has given him zero support, zero help and placed absolutely no priority on building Geithner's team."
Wiz you have to start doing some research in the center. I won't ask you to read what is written by the left, but your statement here is completely without merit. What evidence do you have to support such a statement? It seems to me that Obama has gone out of his way to support his Treasury Secretary. He does have an entire country to run and I doubt he has time to hold Tim's hand, not that he needs it. Sigh......
Mike, I read the left news sources and blogs every day. I read Huffington and KOS and a dozen others, including yours (which is now nicely well balanced with addition of the movie team and right leaning Lee).
Obama admitted yesterday that he had failed to give the proper priorities to building Geithner's team.
The proof is that after 61 days in office Obama had not submitted a SINGLE NOMINATION to the Senate for even one position in the Treasury except Geithner. There are nearly 50 vacancies!!!! Not a single nomination!!!!
The key Mike is to look beyond the spin and look at the facts, the real facts.
Geithner is fighting the most important battle in America today. I think he is actually doing a good job. But he has no support.
The Associated Press reported moments ago:
Frank Brosens, a hedge fund manager who was Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner’s choice to run the office overseeing the $700 billion bank bailout program, withdrew his name from consideration.
Brosens, a founding partner of Taconic Capital Advisors LLC in New York, confirmed in an e-mail he is no longer in the running for the job, which requires Senate confirmation. The position is currently held by Neel Kashkari, a holdover from the Bush administration.
Geithner has had a difficult time filling vacancies and remains President Barack Obama’s only confirmed appointment at the department as the administration grapples with the biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression.
Wizard simply because people aren't filling those vacancies doesn't mean the Obama administration isn't trying. This is evidenced by your last post that speaks to the withdrawal. Secondly, you really don't think the president addresses such mundane matters personally do you? He has a nominations secretary, and dozens of other "secretaries" who take care of such things.
Thank God I found someone else who supports Tim Geithner. This most intelligent man a graduate of Dartmouth College, who is carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders should be applauded for his efforts. See my site at:
wesupporttimgeithner.ning.com
email me: malvinaroze@gmail.com
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