Political India: Engaging America

From The Hindu

Tim Geithner (49), the United States Treasury Secretary, has reportedly said he would leave his job after the looming debt ceiling issue is resolved, to spend more time with his family.

Mr. Geithner, who took up the top economic job in the Obama administration in January 2009, has faced a non-stop cascade of economic problems since entering office, initially with the financial and housing markets turmoil of 2008-09 and then difficult negotiations between the White House and Congress to reduce U.S. debt and boost job creation.

The need to break the negotiations logjam over the U.S. debt limit, currently at $14.3 trillion until the August 2 deadline, was clearly on the Secretary’s mind when he spoke of his possible retirement.

According to media reports quoting three people familiar with the matter, Mr. Geithner “signalled to White House officials that he is considering leaving the administration after President Barack Obama reaches an agreement with Congress to raise the national debt limit... Geithner hasn't made a final decision and won't do so until the debt ceiling issue has been resolved.”

While news wires in Washington were abuzz with the development Mr. Geithner sought to downplay any notion that he had made any official decisions on the subject. Speaking at an event he said, “I live for this work, it’s the only work I’ve done, and I believe in it... I’m going to be doing it for the foreseeable future.”

One reason Mr. Geithner is said to be considering leaving the job is that his son would be attending high school in New York, “which meant that he would be commuting between Washington and New York for a while,” reports said.

The latter half of 2011 might also be considered an opportune moment for him to break with his role, it was noted, if an agreement on the debt ceiling was reached by that time and the expected frenetic campaign for the 2012 presidential elections had not kicked off yet.

Yet, if in fact, Mr. Geithner quits his job it would leave a vacuum, albeit temporarily, in an area that Mr. Obama is intensely focused on leading to his 2012 re-election bid. Jobs, in particular are said to be a top concern for voters in that election, and unless the currently slow but positive trend in unemployment reduction picks up, this could be the President’s undoing next year.

Mr. Obama and whoever he chooses to appoint to fill Mr. Geithner’s shoes will also have to contend with a truculent Republican Congress that is set to continue fiercely opposing tax increases and authorising a debt ceiling hike without further concessions on public expenditure levels and other Democratic Party priorities.

Mr. Geithner, who spent a number of his childhood years in New Delhi, India, has also played a key role in driving forward the India-U.S. Financial and Economic Partnership with his Indian counterpart, Pranab Mukherjee.

Last week he and Mr. Mukherjee held a series of meetings here to press on with the blossoming economic partnership between the two countries, ahead of the Strategic Dialogue to be held in New Delhi later this month.