Leona Helmsley for Treasury?

And a good Martin Luther King Day to you, even if, like most people, you may not actually have it off. Of course, by the time soon-to-be President Obama is done completing the nationalization of the economy started by President Bush, most of us may be semi-official or official employees of the Federal government, and therefore get the holiday...

Me, I'm taking the day off, though it's not a formal holiday for my firm. It *is* a formal day for my client, however, and since the guys who manage the thin-client servers aren't working, there's no point in going in to sit at a desk when all I could do is... nothing. Oh, keep the lame jokes to yourselves.

Moving along - I started out neutral in the whole Geithner-and-his-taxes thing, wishing to avoid the kind of small-minded sniping that has sometimes characterized confirmation hearings since the Clinton era. Of course, with Speaker Pelosi essentially re-writing the rules so that Republicans will be allowed, reluctantly, some office space, and maybe some telephones, well,  they aren't going to get to play much in this Congress - which means that at least a lot of that carping and sniping will be an "own goal" on the part of the Democrats.

Which is okay.  Congress would do well to re-assume some of the roles and duties it has shed to the Presidency over the decades since WWI.

Of course, since we've essentially entrusted the keys of the kingdom to the people who helped bring us this mess (by that, I mean many of the incumbents in Congress), we may not want to suffer their nostrums and ministrations.  But we're gonna.

But that brings up Mr. Geithner again - because he's viewed as such a key member of Mr. Obama's cabinet that, for once, Mr. Obama has not thrown an inconvenient person under the bus, which says to me that Mr. Obama really really really wants this guy.

Byron York has a pretty good rundown of it, over at National Review (link to the full article in the linked piece).

Reading that, I was reminded of Leona Helmsley, the "Queen of Mean," who was reputed (she denied it) to have said:

"We don't pay taxes. Only the little people pay taxes ...",

Heh.  Geithner's not quite that obvious - but it is troubling.  As York relates:

“His explanation was kind of, ‘I don’t know — it was stupid, obviously it was a mistake, and I don’t know why I did it,’” recalls a senator who was present during Geithner’s surprise appearance before a members-only meeting of the Senate Finance Committee last week. “What do you say to that?”

…Since their meeting with Geithner was the first time that most senators had heard of the problem, their questions were not terribly detailed; several of the queries were along the lines of “What were you thinking?” And Geithner’s answers were not terribly satisfying. “He can’t offer a specific reason,” says another source familiar with what went on at the meeting. “He doesn’t really have an answer. He just didn’t know.”

Like I said last week - if I ever end up in Court for tax evasion, I hope I can score some Republican senators for my jury...  I don't believe in indispensible people, but, clearly, Mr. Obama is willing to expend some political capital to get Mr. Geithner. 

Before we know it, Sandy Berger will be back.