As secretary of the treasury in the midst of a recession, Timothy Geithner never was going to have it easy. But Geithner has managed to hold on to his position, a feat that is hardly a given, and remain one of the most powerful economic policymakers in Washington.
When introducing him as his nominee, President Obama cited Geithner's "extensive experience" and "unparalleled understanding of our current economic crisis." Geithner was president of the New York Federal Reserve. When the economy began to slide, he was one of the first officials there to call for increased transparency and oversight of the asset-based securities trade, and his early concern about the credit crisis helped bring about interest rate cuts that softened the recession's blow. More controversially, he was a key player in the choice to let Lehman Brothers fail.
Geithner, 47, was not trained in the traditional manner of a treasury secretary. He majored in government and Asian studies at Dartmouth and got a master's in international studies from Johns Hopkins. Nor has he worked in the financial private sector. Instead, he has managed economic crises in Brazil, Indonesia, and South Korea while at the Treasury Department from 1995 to 2001 and directed policy development at the International Monetary Fund.
Now, Geithner faces his hardest challenge. But it is also his biggest opportunity: to put himself not only in Obama's inner circle but in the history books.
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