ABC NEWS: [Secretary of the Treasury Tim] Geithner is portrayed in [“Confidence Men”] as never following through on a presidential instruction to prepare for the dismantling of Citigroup…
One former senior administration official told ABC News that it “would be crazy” to prepare a plan for Citi dismantling before the results of the stress test came in. The existence of such a plan would leak and cause a run on Citi and other banks perceived to be weak, the official said.
Geithner today disputed that he would simply refuse to carry out the president’s orders. “I would never do that,” he said. “I’ve spent my life in public service. My great privilege to serve this president, and I would never contemplate doing that.”… (more)
EDITOR: The President telling the Secretary to “consider” something is not tantamount to his telling him to do so. Rather, it is empowering him to consider all alternatives. Leaders understand this; perhaps some authors don’t.
