Dec 5, 2008 11:00 AM
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New York, 7:56 AM
Wed Feb 10
56 posts in the last 24 hours
Tim Geithner is Barack Obama's pick for Treasury Secretary, which is probably the most important job in his administration, and no one really quite knows how to feel about that. He's a Rubinite and maybe responsible for killing Lehman but also he's never been a banker, so there you go. But now apparently Tim Geithner is inexplicably going after beloved FDIC chair Sheila Bair. Not Sheila Bair!
Bair was appointed by George W. Bush to run the FDIC, and her term ends in 2011. She's a Republican, but she's well-respected and liked by everyone on both sides of the aisle. She's been running the efforts to rework mortgages and keep people in their homes, and she's all for "helping Main Street in addition to Wall Street," and lots of liberals had hoped to see her maybe get a bigger role in an Obama administration. Here is what Barney Frank said about her:
“I think part of the problem now, to be honest, is Sheila Bair has annoyed the ‘old boys’ club,’” Frank said today. “To some extent, bank regulation and mortgage foreclosure have made a situation where we have several regulators up in the tree house with a ‘no girls allowed’ sign — and it’s aimed at Sheila Bair - - who’s been really good.”
Wait a minute—Republican who took on her own party and the 'old boys club'? Sheila Bair is an actual maverick. A real-life one, not the kind that is Mavericky based only on superficial identity-based personality traits! Why does Geithner want her gone?
Apparently Geithner "clashed" with Bair over aid to Citigroup, a position she was goddamn right to clash with him over because that particular bailout was a mess. But it means she's "not a team player" and it also means we're worried about the Obama economic team again.
Send an email to Alex Pareene, the author of this post, at alexp@gawker.com.
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