Spoiler Alert on Obama's Next Treasury Secretary
Posted at 12:15 p.m. on Nov. 27, 2012
No matter how many shortlists make their way into the news, Matthew Yglesias is convinced that President Obama will choose White House Chief of Staff Jacob Lew to take over from Timothy Geithner as Treasury Secretary.
“Why? Well, because the White House has decided that it wants the Treasury secretary to be deeply involved with budget issues, and who better than a former Office of Management and Budget director? What’s more, Obama has been working with Lew for a while now and likes him, and they’ve been working well together.”
“All the other ideas kicking around involve bringing someone in from the outside who’d be taking over midstream and trying to establish a working relationship with the president and the Treasury team while simultaneously hammering out thorny bargains with House Republicans. It doesn’t really work.”
“Which sets up the question of who will follow Lew as chief of staff.”
