Obama introduces next treasury secretary

KR says Geithner’s resume is an excellent match for Treasury Secretary: typically the New York Federal Reserve Chief is the pointman for dealing with financial crises because they’re right there with the negotiations and that’s true of Geithner. (How do you rate his performance so far and will his performance change when he takes over as the Treasury Secretary?) It’s been a very tough job, you’re facing an epic financial crisis. The big mistakes in this were made a few years ago at the end of the Greenspan era. This is a problem that needs to be treated holistically and the current approach has been reactive and Geithner has enormous experience in dealing with financial crises and he understands that you have got to get ahead of the curve. So they’ll come in big, quickly, and boldly. (Obama emphasized Geithner’s global background, but how does Geithner understand the language of the markets specifically and can he juggle different economies?) He has tremendous experience with markets and he was deeply immersed with the Japanese financial crisis, and he was involved with the Argentine debt crisis. I’ve been impressed with his understanding and ability to synthesize information. He has not worked in Wall Street and has chosen to work in government and he does care deeply about people. He really is a multi-cultural person.