Obama Press Conference (pt.1) Nov. 24, 2008

From the YouTube post:

"Barack Obama's second press conference since winning the election was disciplined, focused and serious...He criticized the Big Three automakers for having no idea what they wanted to do with the billions in tax dollars they want given to them, but also indicated he didn't want Detroit going under. He pledged to do "whatever is required" to keep the financial system working, but didn't get into exactly what that might mean, preferring to wait for his newly appointed economic policy team to give him some proposals to sort through. He'll probably let the Bush tax cuts expire..and the calm, steady leadership Obama displayed Monday will surely help put viewers at ease.
http://www.salon.com/politics/war_roo...
Why the Geithner Pick Is Even Better Than You Think [by Noam Scheiber]
I was thrilled to hear yesterday about the dream-team pairing that will make Geithner Treasury Secretary and Summers a top White House adviser. Geithner is one of the most able technocrats to have risen through Treasurys ranks, which makes him the perfect pick to run its sprawling bureaucracy; Summers is one of the top two or three economic minds of his generation, which makes him a guy you want in the room with the president.

But, beyond the pairing of person and job, it's the way these guys complement one another that's really key here. Geithner is the rare bureaucrat with the smarts and the self-confidence to effectively challenge Summers when hes off base. As I wrote earlier this month:

Geithner had become a check on the bandwagon-jumping Summers's intellect could inspire--and which Summers, to his credit, reflexively resisted. "When you're talking to the Treasury secretary or the under secretary, there's a strong tendency for everybody to leap on what that person is saying and agree," says one co-worker. "Tim's fundamental function was to interrupt that process."

Former colleagues told me that Geithner had a particular knack for reeling in Summers when hed get bogged down on some esoteric point of marginal relevance to the problem at hand. Hed say something like, That was enormously clever Larry, but on the other hand... then home in on the question that needed resolving. The value of this skill is hard to overstate.
But
1.) Substantively, Geithner will have the chief responsibility for resuscitating and reforming the financial markets, an area where hes developed extensive expertise at the New York Fed. Summers will, in turn, be the guy the administration defers to on broad macroeconomic decisions--how big a stimulus bill should be, how the money should be allocated between unemployment benefits, aid to states, infrastructure projects, tax cuts, etc. (One thing to keep in mind about Geithner: Hes one of the least territorial people ever to work in government, with the possible exception of his old boss Bob Rubin, who was also famous for this. If Geithner thinks a colleague is in a better position tackle something, his impulse is to get out of the way.)...."