Obama's Treasury Secretary A Cursing, Skateboarding "Hipster-Wonk"

The Economist profiles Barack Obama's Treasury Secretary pick, who they approvingly describe as a "seasoned crisis manager":

Mr Geithner looks a lot younger than his 47 years (though not as young as he did before the crisis began). He skateboards and snowboards and exudes a sort of hipster-wonkiness, using "way" as a synonym for "very" as in "way consequential" and occasionally underlining his point with the word "fuck". In temperament he seems similar to Mr Obama: he is suspicious of ideology, questions received wisdom, likes a competition of ideas and is keenly aware of how uncertain the world is.

...

He is a quick learner: within a year of joining the New York Fed he could debate the intricacies of monetary policy with academic experts. But he will join an Administration rapidly filling up with heavyweights on economic policy, not least of them Mr Summers. Indeed, one of the big questions of the new team that Mr Obama is expected to unveil on Monday is just how Mr Summers, a brilliant but intimidating and sometimes abrasive figure, will fit in.

Read the whole thing.

Comments

[NMO14]

This guy may be OK, but when I see an old guy on a skateboard, you want to just go over and knock him off of it...pathetically sad...

[vincefango]

So what do you want to do if he doesn't fall?

[gr8abz]

Bernard Hopkins is an 'old guy.' Floyd Mayweather Senior is a real old guy. Sylvester Stallone is in his sixties. But somehow I don't think you'd challenge any of them if they were on a skateboard. And they are not exceptions to the rule these days. I go to a boxing gym where I see a lot of 'old guys' who I believe could easily teach you a few things in the ring. So show a little respect before you go sounding off little buddy.

[theVoice0fReason]

Forgive us all for YOUR not being athletic, outdoorsy, or balls out enough to try skating, surfing, or snowboarding, when you were young and able.

For the rest of us, it's a way of life, and much like the Hawaiians, Californians and others who big wave ride well into their 60's or more, it's not something any of us would give up, not even to curb YOUR pathetic rants.

[jmyoung666]

Any guy in his 40s caught skateboarding should be kneecapped.

[Alex02139]

I can't believe people are falling for this "skateboard" publicity baloney. This guy is a Wall Street banker. He maybe has a skateboard somewhere in his mansion. For sure he has a publicity person who made up this story to make him seem youthful. What a crock. Hillary was right, Change is an empty slogan, same Bush people means same policies.

[jmyoung666]

More importantly, there is notjing sadder than an aging hipster. However, I assume this is mostly media hype and he does not act like half the a-hole he was described as in the article.

[FDRJFKLBJ]

For anyone who actually values substance over personality, here it is:

Geithner is a part of the problem -- he won't fix anything. This man was appointed to the NY Fed by the Federal Reserve board members; meaning that he shares the same beliefs as Greenspan, Bernanke, and Paulson.

The Federal Reserve is beholden to only one group -- not to the president, or congress -- but to the National Banks. The national banks appoint the members of the Fed. Therefore, his masters are the banks, and he will do everything in his power to make sure that they are taken care of.

This means more of our billions of dollars will be given to the banks carte blanche with no strings attached a la Mr. Paulson.

[luke150]

You don't know what you are talking about. "carte blanche", "a la", whatever. Babbling. If you want to make a point, give logical arguments. It's astonishing - the conviction you say "he won't fix anything". That guilt by association is exactly what the Republicans tried with Obama and Ayers. Thank God it didn't work for them. We have to learn to better evaluate people based on personal achievements, not on associations.

[FDRJFKLBJ]

The chairmen of the Fed in D.C. are appointed by the president, but the district presidents are appointed by the board members of each district.

Board members of each district are national banks. The national banks made Geithner president of the NY Fed. Therefore, Mr. Geithner is friendly with the national banks.

[NMO14]

Thank you...we don't need anymore Wall Street dingbats getting us into deeper do-do.

[Alex02139]

The Federal Reserve is appointed by Bush, including Geithner. This is a very, very strange choice. Why not Steiglitz? Sacks? Rivlin? Reich? There are plenty of progressive economists, but Obama has chosen another Bush guy. It's kinda gross.

[Weathermaker]

Exactly right. Geithne, Bernanke and Paulson gave us the Citi deal this weekend. I hope this clears it up for everyone what kind of change this guy can bring.

[PacificGatePost]

These announcements are great for perceptions, however the long term impact remains questionable. The state of the economy presents a serious challenge for unusual Vision. Where will it come from?

Post election we look for actions that might provide a glimpse into the potential of serious “change” arriving with an Obama Presidency, beyond re-assembling the Clinton entourage.

We seek something not self evident, something that might provide insight into whether or not Obama has capacity for "vision," and leadership for the Nation.

The first Tell - - -

http://pacificgatepost.blogspot.com/2008/11/obama-first-tell.html

[grumpygranny66]

Would you feel better if he choose people without experience? Why would it matter if the people he is choosing is from the Clinton entourage or not, as long as they are qualified for the job.

I am an Obama supporter from way back, and I was not thrilled when I kept seeing the same names from the Clinton Adm. popping up, But, then I realized he needed the best people for the job and if they did a good job in the Clinton Adm. that's good enough for me.

[MissDaphne]

sweet jesus on a bicycle.
if he knows the path to take us out of the wilderness, bless him.
we are sufficiently lost that I'm willing to follow him.
these are scary times, indeed.

[MaximMaximus]

A skateboard-loving and F-word using Treasury secretary? Well...that's good. The fact that he enjoys skateboarding implies that he is physically active and has good blood flow to his brain. And the fact that he uses the F-word quite often makes me believe that he's got no tolerance to BS. Both might come very handy at his new job! :)

[jefflewis]

"Hipster-Wonk" is way awesome.

[leftLibertarian]

this guy worked for the war criminals kissinger's firm.

[suec03]

But it appears he left Kissinger and moved on. I wonder what Mr. Geithner thinks of Mr. Kissinger now. Sometimes leaving can mean you learned you didn't want to stay there.

[NMO14]

Whether he left Kissinger or not is not relevant...that connection is a problem...some of you felt it was a problem that Kissinger liked Hill for SOS, so why wouldn't this be a problem for this skateboarding middle aged man?

[Alex02139]

and was appointed by Bush to run the New York Federal Reserve Bank. Change we can believe in: Financial markets are more important than jobs.

[gr8abz]

Giethner sounds young and alive as well as brilliant. And that sounds good to me. And from what I've read he and Summers get along well and see eye to eye on most things. I think Barrack is making some smart choices. But nothing can satisfy the GOP nit pickers or those who are just pissed that Obama won.

[NMO14]

I'm going to quote from an old TV sci fi show in referring to Summers...

The Robot from Lost in Space upon meeting Robbie the Robot, a competitor:



BAD ..................VERY...BAD!!!!!

[GuyFawkes]

As long as he's never worked with show horses, I'm good.

[tlou33]

LOL

[AllenD]

The thing I really like about this pick is that with Geithner sitting as Chair of the New York Federal Reserve, he gives Obama a direct pipeline to Bernanke and any Fed decisions between now an inauguration day.

[Alex02139]

Instead of Change, we get reruns. Intellectually overrated and managerial incompetent misogynist Larry Summers? You must be kidding. Meanwhile, Geithner was appointed to the Fed by Bush, and Bush never made a purely merited appointment in 8 years, so that tells you everything. We're getting Bill Clinton reruns in major departments, except for Defense, where we get a Bush rerun.

I voted for Obama, but I supported Hillary because I could tell that Obama is a phony (better than any Republican, but that's faint praise.)

Hillary should stay in the Senate and fight, fight fight.

[Ides]

...So you're worried about Bill Clinton reruns and you supported Hillary? She's just a more Hawkish, more conservative version of Bill.

[Alex02139]

She's a smarter, tougher, ballsier version of Bill. And there's no way she'd leave Bush boy Gates at Defense, where he will undermine the Democrats big time. Plus, she didn't promise "Change We Can Believe In," which I guess means "I'll change my mind once I'm elected."

[obamasandiego]

Exactly. Alexo's a little confused methink.

[grizhead63]

But you have to admire the way she dodged all those sniper bullets in Bosnia.

[patwal]

I'm going to ask the question I've asked in another thread... do you have any idea at all about the tenets of "Change Management"?

And wouldn't using all new people unfamiliar with how to get things done in government, not be a RE-RUN of what happened to the Carter administration, and the first 2 years of the Clinton administration? Not far from being a disaster.... and that was bad enough at a time when the economy wasn't in anywhere near these dire straits.

[NMO14]

But this is an acknowledgement of what we knew all along: The Clinton Administration had SOME people who knew how to get the job done...Obama is obviously smart enough to have figured this, and for this he deserves due credit...just SAY NO to misogynist pigs like Summers, though.

[GuyFawkes]

A Clintonista complaining about Clinton appointments?

Alex in Wonderland, indeed.

[PitBull6]

Misogynist? What he said was essentially, hey, if the reason women weren't in top jobs in the hard sciences was because of discrimination only, wouldn't there be a horde of highly talented women waiting to be scooped up by a nondiscriminatory institution?

From the little I have read about him, he seems to be a critical thinking straight shooter unafraid of being politically incorrect (although he may be gunshy now)

[Alex02139]

No, he said girls are too dumb for math because of "innate differences." Then at a meeting of the Faculty he refused to either defend or release the tapes of his comments, showing that he learned nothing in Washington, where the cover-up is always worse than the crime. Then he totally caved and started to randomly appoint women to the science departments despite the objections of the departments, including the women already in Physics, Chemical Biology, Organismic Biology, etc. Then he bullied anybody who didn't agree with his neocon views, accusing them of anti-Semitism.

Larry Summers is a nightmare.

[Pupster]

I admit it: I've been crushing on Mr. Geithner for a while.

[Kate4Change]

Yeah. How did we get so many hotties in the White House? Hillary is going to be lovin' it! You go Hill, make big Bill jealous. =)

[NMO14]

I think you and anyone else who is needs therapy...

[Bitsko]

I love the mention of Mr. Geithner "cursing." Who wrote this, a Mormon elder? Oh, it's the Economist. Same thing.

[bonofide]

People try to put us d-down (talkin` `bout my generation)
Just because we get around (talkin` `bout my generation)


Thank you Roger, Pete, Keith, and John!


(Who?) LOL

[TakeSake]

Meet the new boss!
This time he's one of us!

If I would have had the fortune to attend an Obama rally I could have said, "I haven't been in a crowd like this since I went to see 'The Who'."

[Jazzcomedian]

Cursing and skateboarding in a Treasury secretary doesn't give me confidence, so I'm pulling my last $20 billion out of the market tomorrow. Sorry, made a mistake. I meant my last $20.

[grizhead63]

Wait a minute Jazz...I'm going to invest my last $20 tomorrow. This dude sounds kool.

[Jazzcomedian]

I only curse when I fall off my skateboard and look at my 401K.