Be Careful What You Wish For...

In my previous post a few weeks ago, I made the case that Republicans seeking to redeem their public image and act in an important minority oversight role should be trying to challenge the nomination of Treasury designate Tim Geithner rather than Attorney General designate Eric Holder. I'm quite happy to see that despite Arlen Specter's hypocritical bluster (probably meant more to help stave off a 2010 primary challenge than out of any higher principles), Holder is virtually guaranteed to be confirmed. Yet I didn't imagine that Geithner might indeed end up being the controversial and embattled high-profile cabinet appointment.

Now I'm still not thrilled with Geithner, and his intimate ties to the failed leadership of Wall Street in the era of excess and subsequent bailouts are troublesome. I would've much rather seen a Paul Krugman, Joseph Stiglitz or even a Jason Furman type in the post. But you really can't credibly argue he's not qualified for the job in a strict resume sense. And I can't say with any great confidence that Geithner isn't the best guy to restore confidence in financial markets, because he certainly knows what he's doing.

So I'm quite ambivalent over the developing controversies that may, but probably will not derail Mr. Geithner's nomination. If we are to trust President Obama (I'm preemptively dropping the "elect" a day in advance), we should want his Treasury pick to be confirmed since he has placed a lot of faith in the man. Unfortunately for me, I'm a skeptical New Yorker - not so quick to trust a favored authority figure. While I honestly couldn't care less about the undocumented immigrant housekeeper (in NYC it's actually hard to find a non-undocumented immigrant housekeeper), I think Geithner's tax troubles are a very serious concern considering the scandal encompass an area directly within Treasury's jurisdiction. If the man in charge of the IRS is seen as a miserly tax cheat who works on behalf of elite Wall Street interests and is staunchly supported by Mr. Obama, it will be that much harder for #44 to make a convincing case that we need to pay more taxes in the name of the common good.

I really hope I'm wrong.