Fair warning here, this is going to be a political post so tune out if you choose. It looks to me like Timothy Geithner is dead meat. Frankly, I don’t necessarily think that’s a good outcome but fair is a word rarely used in politics unless a Congressperson is making a speech.

The word out today is that the whole confirmation process has been delayed until next Wednesday and the Republicans are making nice noises about what a fine person he is and how all of this is certainly an understandable mistake. Given the necessity of having a Treasury Secretary on board on day one and the Democrats control of the whole process and, by the way President-elect Obama’s continuing support, one would be inclined to wonder why delay? I’ll give you one reason. Pushback.

This isn’t playing well in Peoria as they used to say. Regardless of the circumstances, the prospect of a guy who even appears to have skated on his taxes is not going to go over really well with a lot of people who are just trying to get by. I suspect that the Democrats are hearing more than they want to from their constituents and don’t want to go out on a limb for Geithner. He came in with baggage and now he looks to the folks outside New York and the Beltway  like just another slick Wall Street type. 

In my post last night on the nomination I linked to a New York Times article that objectively reported the circumstances surrounding the controversy. Tonight, the Times has an article that is best described as a rationalization of his actions-actually it’s lame. That’s as good a tip off as any that the forces are being marshalled to push this thing through.

Best guess here is that his nomination is toast and Geithner withdraws before the nomination. If I’m wrong I will gladly accept all slings and arrows because I like the guy.