Geithner, from the Peanut Gallery

[BridgeTheGap]

The old joke is never put two economists in the same room if you want to know how the economy is doing. But what if you want to know how Timothy Geithner is doing? On Monday the Treasury Secretary unveiled his plan for a private/public partnership to buy up bad loans, in the hopes of getting money to flow from banks to the public once again. While mainstream media focuses on Wall Street’s reaction to Geithner, here are a few alternative sources:

The Hotline provides a detailed summary of the reaction to Geithner’s plan from both the liberal and conservative blogosphere.

Recent reports labeling Geithner as “embattled” or “beleaguered” have Christopher Beam over at Slate wondering if our Treasury Secretary will either resign or lose his job. “Embattled is one of those words that creeps into news reports,” Beam writes, “when a figure reaches a certain threshold of controversy.”

Mike Madden at Salon thinks that the key to Obama’s successfully selling Geithner’s ideas is to focus attention on the plan, not the man, citing the Treasury Secretary’s pronounced lack of media savvy.

http://www.utne.com/Politics/Geithner-from-the-Peanut-Gallery.aspx