A swift kick in the ass from the President? It shouldn't. There's a lot of concern that Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is either too timid or too immersed in the Wall Street culture to be effective in managing the financial bailouts. The AIG bonus scandal is rocking the Government, with politicians on both sides of the aisle demanding that executives in the AIG financial products group be denied their bonuses (the Rethug outrage is phony, of course -- these are their peeps). There are questions about whether Geithner knew some time ago about the bonuses, and was either unconcerned or too clueless to raise a red flag. The Administration is beginning to grasp the outrage of the public over the bailouts and bonuses, while unemployment rises, retirement funds drop, and homes are lost. If Geithner can't, or won't, get out in front of the problem, he'll damage Obama's overall agenda well into the future.
UPDATE: The Senate Finance Committee is actively looking into a targeted tax to recover the bonuses from the AIG clowns. Would a 99.999 percent rate be OK?
