Geithner Wrestles With Legacy Amid Libor Scandal, Economic Worries

[WestVirginiaRebel]

National Journal:

Timothy Geithner finds the perception that he is “too close to Wall Street” so frustrating that, in an interview with Charlie Rose this week, the Treasury secretary set aside his usual measured demeanor to try to debunk what he says is an “urban myth.”

“I find that deeply offensive,” Geithner said. “I think it’s deeply unfair, unjustified.”

The secretary, who will wrap up a four-year tenure at the helm of Treasury in January, is struggling to shape his legacy as worries persist about the health of the economic recovery and a scandal over manipulation of the Libor interest rate gives fresh ammunition to critics who accuse him of coddling the financial sector.

Geithner, a former president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New YorkNew YorkPopulation (2008): 19,378,102Registered Voters: 25.4% R, 48.5% D, 26.1% I Governor: Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D)Senators: Sen. Charles Schumer (D), Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D) Sign up or log in to read the full profile who served as a top lieutenant to then-Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin during the Clinton years, is President Obama’s longest-serving economic adviser.

When he chose Geithner for Treasury in 2008, Obama viewed him as essential to rescuing the economy from its worst crisis since the Great Depression. As Europe's debt crisis and a “fiscal cliff” standoff in Congress threaten to derail an already fragile economic recovery, all indications are that Obama has every bit as much confidence in Geithner as he did four years ago. Perhaps even more.

Indeed, when Geithner’s family had to move back to New YorkNew YorkPopulation (2008): 19,378,102Registered Voters: 25.4% R, 48.5% D, 26.1% I Governor: Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D)Senators: Sen. Charles Schumer (D), Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D) New York or New York to read the full profile a year ago so his son could finish high school there, Obama went to lengths to persuade the secretary to stay on at Treasury and even made a special plea to Geithner’s wife to get her on board with the decision.

But throughout his tenure, Geithner has remained the ultimate insider, wielding huge clout within the administration, even as he has come under fire at times with members of Congress. Although he has a dark sense of humor that the president and his colleagues appreciate, Geithner is often reserved in public. He is far more in his element leading a meeting at Treasury or debating economic policy in the Oval Office than he is at playing the role of economic salesman on television or in the industrial heartland.

As much as he tried, he can’t seem to shake the perception that he has hewed too closely to Wall Street’s views in his policy stances on everything from housing to the Dodd-Frank regulatory reform legislation.

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Pity the poor mouthpiece for Obamanomics...