Geithner Grows Up: WATCH The Treasury Sec's Evolution (VIDEO)

Witness the new and improved Timothy Geithner! As DealBreaker put it earlier today, the Treasury Secretary has arrived. He's been everywhere lately, including a marathon session in front of Congress and an appearance on Jim Lehrer just in the last few days. And he's showing none of the cringe-worthy stiffness he had when he took over in February.

As you'll see below, his first press conference was just about as awful as it gets. Here's how the New York Times described it:

"Initial reviews for the man and his plan were not good, however. Stock markets slid through the day, perhaps spurred downward by withering punditry on the business-news cable channels faulting Mr. Geithner for not providing more details, particularly on stemming home foreclosures."

Witness his now-infamous first press conference -- if you can sit through it. One word: STIFF...

Now, check out the new Geithner, who testified before Congress earlier this week. He's all grown up! SHARP! SURE! SAVVY! SNAPPY!

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Comments

[selective]

What an absolute jerk. He's tinkering around with the system like a mad scientist, that quick answer "absolutely" when asked if Fannie and Freddie played a role in the financial crisis. Also when he said in previous testimony that he couldn't agree more that the financial system needed to be more regulated, said like he was discussing politics while playing poker with the guys. This guy is annoying, brilliance and knowledge isn't enough, these civil servants should do their damn jobs without grandstanding and complaining and blaming. They have a job to do, do it. But government types always want credit.

[PhilipTaylor]

The thing that has stayed the same is his TOTAL LOYALTY TO WALL STREET BANKS and their S1CK Culture!

Real evolution is NOT the superficial kind it is BEING TRULY CONCERNED for Main Street Americans with policies that directly help them!

[PhilipTaylor]

"THAT is a very important question!"

"You are RIGHT!"

[CardboardBox]

Um, what? You're comparing his performance handling a press conference vs appearing before congress. He has always been good at the latter. His performance on the Charlie Rose show is a perfect example. He needs someone to interact with to show his depth of knowledge on the issues.

[admiralsonasongbird]

mkw408 is Glenn Beck broher. another phony telling us the dollar will go down a italian police found fake treasury bond with a man. anotherf right wing extremist lies. straight from fixnews.

[mkw408]

Demand for US Treasury securities fell from $55.4 Billion in March to $11.2 Billion in April. I'm shocked that some idiots bought $11.2 Billion worth.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/06/15/national/w061107D12.DTL&feed=rss.business

All the smart countries are dumping them. Saw an article about the Italian police seizing $134 Billion dollars worth of US Treasury bonds from two Japanese men. They aren't quite sure is they are real or fake. NO real mention of this at all in the media. The real question is why someone would fake bonds of that magnitude. First of all you would have to have seen a billion dollar bond in order to fake it. Second, there's going to be some serious checking around.

http://www.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&art=15456&size=A

I suspect that the Japanese government is secretly trying to get rid of some of their holdings. Why? The dollar is going down. Something is amiss, I can feel it.

[LunaPark]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who did a double take on that story. I think you are right, Japan is dumping it's US bond holdings to avoid a panic. Also, I read a Financial Times article that said China has been buying gold and other hard commodities in secret.

[Scorch20]

They would be stupid not too. Is just the mindless drones in the US who thinks the paper is worth anything. They are still k!!l over that worthless piece of cr.ap.

[Ravyn]

Definitely a big improvement. It takes practice to speak in front of a room full of people. You have to develop confidence. A lot of people suffer stage fright having to be in front of a group. I wonder if TG developed this on his own or if he had help? I mean you can go take classes, even acting classes, to learn how to deliver a speech or make statements in public, to learn how to try to remain relaxed.

[StepBackForOneSecond]

Michael Sheehan coached Geithner - http://nymag.com/news/intelligencer/55873/

[inthedesert]

He's totally in the back pockets of the banking and mortgage industries....he's no friend of the average American.....because of him the next 5 generations will be paying down the national debt.

[raechel]

Oh, please. In one case, giving a speech after 1 month on the job, in the middle of crisis management. In another case, answering direct questions based on knowledge and experience, after 5 months on the job, the crisis mostly understood, if not resolved. This is "growing up"? Only to the jerks who can't stand the idea of a knock-your-socks-off smart guy behaving the way people behave when they have really, really hard jobs.

[motu]

true.
how impatient and insulting to nerd behavior we Americans are.

[dnegri]

Oh, my David Viitter. Gotta try everyway possible to blame the whole housing mess on Fannie and Freddie! Which Geithner would not do, if his answer is developed. I guarantee it. (ps, "a role" is not "the main role", but that's what Vitter will be proclaiming, I'm sure).

[FreedomCorpse]

Sharp as a rusty knife. It'll cut but it's poison nonetheless.

[theblueAmerican]

Most people just don't get it. They demonize everyone. I'm not saying that Tim Geithner's failure to pay his taxes should be excused but geez this guy is probably working 18 hour days. Everybody needs to understand something. None of us are saints. I'm not. I honestly believe that Tim Geithner wants to fix the economy. He know that there are people out there who have lost jobs, lost homes and are scared. To all the people out there who demonize Mr. Geithner please tell me what you would do to restore America. There are 313 million people in this country approximately. We have 2 wars going on. How do you pay for them? We keep buying oil from countries that don't like us. We buy stuff from China that kills us. It is so easy to bitch. It is my belief that the biggest problem we have in this country is that we attack each other with such ferocity, with reckless disregard to the facts that instead of fixing the problem we'd rather tear each other down. It's always better to light a candle then to curse the darkness. We need to listen and respect each other's viewpoint. Time to grow up and quit drinking the kool aid. Time to quit asking about Barack Obama's birth certificate.

[BurtonOerney]

People have gotten so excited about not liking the way geithner looks and talks that we're now getting gratuitous SNL-type posts on HP. It's like high school except people learn even less.

[Solja]

If you'd pay attention to the man himself, say by actually watching his tv appearances, you wouldn't have needed HuffPo to tell you anything. HuffPo authors never liked him from the time he was nominated, so they never gave him any good press. I think the man is brilliant because I have watched more than enough of his appearances and am convinced the man knows what he's doing and is dedicated to fixing the economy.

I also believe he was nervous in his first national, and most important appearance in his career at the time, on top of him being a very shy man. He has improved in his fear of the camera; he already had the knowledge he now displays.

And I believe he was voted one of the top sexy men in the Washington on HuffPo at one time, and I saw him do an interview where he was asked about it and he almost choked on his on spittal. He was so embarrassed by that, which to me, made him totally human, and funny too!

[Dupree]

I agree with your post. He was brilliant which is why President Obama stood by him during the unfair attacks that were lodged against him in the introduction process.

[watchTVgetSTUPID]

It is not his speaking skills that re the problem. He is the biggest crook this country ever had and the opposite of what Obama promised.

[StopGlobalWarmingBeVegan]

One video, he was reading from a teleprompter and the second, he was discussing. It's like when Bobby Jindal read, he sounds like Mr. Roger, but during debates, he's really sharp.

[Solja]

Nobody is paying attention to that neocon. "Sharp" is not a word that I'd use to describe any Republican, let alone that scrawny little grasshopper.

[Jazzman323]

Growing up? Is he finally paying his taxes??

[Solja]

Get a life. He paid his taxes before he took office. It was a numerical error, you putz.

Has Bush & Co. finally paid their dues for their crimes against society? You can talk about anyone else once they are behind bars.

[Jazzman323]

Geithner finally took care of it after being appoint, I guess. And he is in charge of the IRS!

Bush was the president. He didn't do anything that he should be charged for. Someday you people will realize this nonsense is going nowhere. He kept our country safe. The jury is still out on Obama.

[dnegri]

Yes. Now that should make you happy.

[Jazzman323]

We he is one of a whole list of appointees who expect us to pay taxes, while they ignore theirs. I think there was another one just today!

[patrickgarret]

HILARIOUS! OMG you should be a comedian!

[Jazzman323]

Comedians are to scared to make fun of Obama, even if almost every apointee had tax problems. THAT is a joke.

[mitchieone]

This is kind of off subject, but kind of not. I'm just curious. Has anyone read this letter? What's the general concensous? http://glennbeck.blogs.foxnews.com/2009/06/17/an-open-letter-to-our-nations-leadership/ Thanks!

[mummbleswers]

I respect the opinions of the writer and her right to have them but for me she is selfish and ridiculous. Things that bothered me:

Tarp Bill - She didn't want the money going to the banks, fine. But what does she propose? The one time the government chose not to bail out a financial institution the market went haywire and crashed while credit froze. (See Lehman Brothers) So we just let them all fail? Really?

Cap & Trade - Unless she has a serious degree in Science then for her, the debate is over. I don't know what side she stands on but the "debating" is how we got to what most scientists call a grim point. It's a time sensitive subject and btw going green and getting off oil for energy isn't a bad thing. Sure cap & trade will hurt business but what will hurt business more is lack of water, rising ocean levels, and the migration that will take place from climate change. Time to act now.

Redistribution of Wealth - Going back to the tax codes when Clinton was president IS NOT REDISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH! This is such an whacked out argument left over from the campaign. Obama's tax plan will raise taxes on the top 1%. That leaves 99% unaffected!!!!

That's all I got time for now but I'm open to debating these points with real thoughts that present solutions rather than just saying "one thing is bad but I don't know what to

[dnegri]

Well, her "complaints" read just like the talking points that we hear on Rush every day. In short, nothing new! (And I'm always skeptical of people who claim they were life-long registered Democrats....and if she switched to the GOP, you can bet she's a FUNDAMENTALIST.) Anyway,
no news there.