Geithner gets his mulligan

Without cameras and without the usual fanfare the white house generally reserves for big policy rollouts, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner unvieled the Obama administrations new plan for dealing with the bad bank assets that are clogging the books of many of America's biggest financial institutions.
At a "pen and pad" briefing reserved for economic journalists instead of the usual political ones, Geithner explained the administrations plan and took questions. The absence of cameras was an obvious help to the embattled secretary, who has often seemed nervous and uncharasmatic in the face of television reporters.
He previewed the event with his own explanatory op-ed in The Wall Street Journal, that received praise from investors and shot the dow up 300 points in morning trading, the first time any new plan by the new adminsitration has seen the markets, and timid traders worried about continued government oversight, react positively.
Mr. Geithner seemed to relish the opportunity to explain himself in such a low key setting, answering detailed questions about the plan from reporters who were much more interested in specifics than possible political questions about his future within the Obama Administration.
The plan has still drawn fire from both liberal and conservative commentators and who knows whether those calls on him to resign will still continue, but for now it seems at least, Giethner has held the line.