Geithner hints at second term at Treasury

Timothy Geithner © AFP/Getty Images/File Brendan Smialowski

AFP

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner hinted Sunday that he would be willing to stay on in his post should President Barack Obama win a second term in 2012.

After suffering harsh criticism for his handling of the economic crisis and calls for his resignation early in the administration’s life, Geithner said he still enjoyed the job.

“I’ve got a lot on my plate still and we’ve got a lot of challenges ahead and I want to tell you, this is hard, but I believe in this work and I enjoy these challenges,” he told ABC television.

“I’m going to keep at trying to fix what is broken here, make sure we’re helping the economy grow and help deal with these long term challenges.”

His comments, while stopping short of a outright pledge to stay, come in stark contrast to comments from other members of Obama’s inner circle.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have both said they would not be willing to stay on.

Geithner’s tenure as Treasury Secretary got off to a rocky start, as the young Obama administration struggled to fix a massive financial crisis and end the worst recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

Geithner’s term has arguably been as busy as that of any Treasury Secretary in living memory, with the possible exception of his predecessor Henry Paulson — who wrestled to prevent the collapse of the financial system as Lehman Brothers and other banks failed.

Geithner has helped usher in a much maligned stimulus package worth hundreds of billions of dollars and helped pass sweeping reforms of Wall Street and health care while battling to keep the economy afloat.

He has been criticized for not doing enough to replace the nine million jobs lost during the recession and has been accused of being a poor communicator and of being enthrall to big banks.

But with the unemployment rate now under nine percent and fears of a double dip recession ebbing, Geithner critics have become less vocal in recent months.

© AFP — Published at Activist Post with license