One of the most important cabinet picks for the next president is arguably Treasury Secretary. If Barack Obama wins next Tuesday, Democrats on the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee will have a big hand in determining who is confirmed for that job. A senior aide with the committee told me last week with certainty that committee senior staff think it will be Timothy Geithner, currently president of the New York Federal Reserve. Here's his bio.
Why Geithner? He is perceived to have been doing a good job in New York, knows the Wall Street players well, and is trusted and liked among Democrats. Geithner worked for both Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin and Larry Summers under President Clinton.
Other possibilities? My colleague Marc Ambinder wrote on his blog Tuesday that Obama might pick Citigroup Clinton-era Office of Management and Budget official Jacob "Jack" Lew for Treasury. Lew is currently COO of Citi Alternative Investments.
If McCain wins, John Thain, current CEO of Merrill Lynch has been mentioned as a possible candidate, according to Politico. Meg Whitman, former head of eBay and Robert Zoellick, head of the World Bank, may also be on the short list, the publication said.
Readers are you hearing any other names? Email me or comment.
-- Bara Vaida
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Responded on October 29, 2008 9:04 AM
Birdalone
Jamie Dimon of JPMorganChase.
Hasn't Geithner's reputation been sullied by his role in allowing Lehman Bros. to fail, now understood to be a very big 'oops'?
Sheila Bair of FDIC deserves to be first woman to be SecTreas. Her term at FDIC expires in 2010, but expect her to be central in re-regulation outcome which will probably take most of 2009 to finalize.