Geithner's big brain and balls

I'm seriously crushing on this guy. Barack Obama's task is simple in comparison to his. Tim Geithner made a long-promised brief speech this morning where he was asked to lay out a comprehensive plan to reform the US financial markets. That's a big, big gulp. This is a task that has more complicated constituencies and shifting sands than the big idea platitudes that President Obama deals in.

Tim Geithner has a vision of saving the guts of our private banking system, while pumping massive amounts of government cash into the machinery. His plan for removing 'toxic assets' from the books of the country's banks is breathtaking in its courage and optimism. He must cajole Congress and private financiers into believing in a very complicated, techincal idea that is absent of the types of philosophical ideals that leaders always rely upon to gain applause, win votes and sell product.

The 'bad bank' idea and the consumer lending pool are not exactly sexy, but getting these things up and running are the big big bet that we all need to pay off. There's no other horse in our race.