It’s official: we have a new Secretary of the Treasury. The Senate has confirmed Timothy Geithner, President Barack Obama’s pick for Treasury Secretary.
The votes for Geithner did not reflect overwhelming confidence in Obama’s pick. The final vote was 60-34 in favor of Geithner. The vote was not strictly partisan with many Republicans embracing Geithner, including Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) who hailed him as “intelligent” and “gifted.”
The number of “no” votes reflected concerns over Geithner’s tax problems. The number of “yes” votes, however, were no doubt a nod to dire economic times with a reported 71,000 jobs being cut today from such big names as Home Depot, Pfizer and Caterpillar.
Despite his confirmation, there were still worries in the Senate. Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) expressed what many taxpayers felt, with respect to Geithner’s prior tax issues, wondering, “How can Mr. Geithner speak with any credibility or authority?”
I guess we’ll see.
OK. So this guy is so great for the job that we must have him no matter how many strikes he has against him? Was there no one else more worthy of the job?