Ever wonder how the U.S. Treasury Secretary gets through some of the most economically stressful times this country has seen in a while -- does he go for long runs? Sleep two hours a night?

Timothy Geithner has been in the job less than a year, and came in after the economy had slumped into recession. Now unemployment is approaching 10 percent, he's had to navigate through an economic stimulus package, and on top of all that the weakness of the U.S. dollar has other countries questioning whether it should still be the reserve currency.

Enough problems, we imagine, to give anyone a big giant headache and more than a few sleepless nights.

So what does Geithner do under the weight of it all?

"I've been in the middle of this for quite a long time," he said in an interview at the Reuters Washington Summit on Tuesday. (Remember, before this job, Geithner was president of the New York Federal Reserve Bank).

His general approach, Geithner said, is to "focus on trying to make sure you're making the best of a bunch of bad choices."

And to make sure "you are helping the president make sensible decisions," he said.

"I think the basic imperative in these things is just to make sure people understand that we're not going to debate when there's a problem anymore, we're not going to like hope it takes care of itself, we're going to commit to fix it," Geithner said. "And we're going to do what it takes to fix it."

For more news from the Reuters Washington Summit, click here.

Photo credit: Reuters/Jonathan Ernst (Geithner at Reuters Washington Summit)

President Barack Obama fired back on Tuesday at conservative critics who say he has not accomplished enough in his first nine months in office.

He told them they should “grab a mop” to help him clean up the mess he inherited from Republican President George W. Bush.

Many Republican critics say the continued sluggishness in the economy and the rise in the unemployment rate to 9.8 percent were a sign that Obama policies on the economy were not effective.

But at a pair of Democratic fund-raisers in New York, the president emphasized the dire straits the economy was in when he took over from Bush.

“I don’t mind cleaning up the mess that some other folks made. That’s what I signed up to do,” Obama said. “But while I’m there mopping the floor, I don’t want somebody standing there saying, you’re not mopping fast enough or you’re not holding the mop the right way.”

For more Reuters political coverage click here.

Photo Credit:Reuters/Jason Reed (Obama at a Democratic party fundraiser in New York City)

Politicians who have a red circle around Election Day in November 2010 would do well to have a look at a new poll by Public Strategies Inc. and Politico.

It says voters choose the economy by a two-to-one margin over other issues in determining how they will vote in that midterm congressional election.

The numbers:

–45 percent consider the economy the most important issue in deciding their vote.
–21 percent chose government spending.
–20 percent picked a U.S. healthcare overhaul.
–9 percent chose the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as their big issues.
–4 percent picked climate change.

President Obama came out all right in the poll. His numbers have dropped from 66 percent back in March to 54 percent now, but it has stabilized at that level.
See the whole poll here.

Click here for more Reuters political coverage

Photo credit: Reuters/Mike Theiler (shoppers at Virginia mall in September)

Sometimes prose doesn’t quite capture the goings-on in Washington. These haikus might not either, but at least they’re short, which is an appropriate length for many of the capital events these days and easily Twitterable. Poetry is supposed to reduce things to their essence. Just in case these go too far in that direction, there are highlighted links to take you to a fuller explanation, if not a deeper meaning.

POTUS hits the road
To parry health care critics
In Bozeman. Yeehaw!

Hitting a plateau?
Feds say economy is
Leveling. Really?

African sojourn
Ends for Hillary Clinton
A tough trip, complete

Grand Canyon freebie,
For Obamas and others,
aims to lure tourists

For Mrs. Shriver,
They gather in Hyannis.
Eunice, rest in peace

Anyone can do this. You probably know the rules: three lines, with five syllables in the first line, seven in the second, five in the third. Show us what you’ve got!

Photo credit: REUTERS/Rickey Rogers (Grand Canyon, January 2, 2008)

Alan Greenspan may have retired as chairman of the Federal Reserve, but his insight is still in hot demand, so much so that Senate Republicans invited him to be their guest speaker at their weekly policy lunch.

Per his normal practice, Greenspan declined to tell reporters what he told the lawmakers behind closed doors, but that did not stop a few senators from spilling the beans.

New Hampshire Republican Senator Judd Gregg said the former Fed chief talked mostly about the need to address the long-term budget deficit, specifically the Medicare healthcare program for the elderly and those with disabilities. The U.S. deficit is expected to crest at more than $1.8 trillion in fiscal 2009 which ends Sept. 30.

On the economy, which has been in a recession since December 2007, Greenspan apparently offered a slightly brighter picture. That would match  what more and more economists are saying — that the recession is in the process of bottoming out and look for a recovery to take root in the current quarter.

“I think he thinks things are improving,” Gregg told reporters.

Greenspan offered some “encouraging thoughts, banks are better off than they were six months ago,” said Nebraska Republican Mike Johanns. “On housing, if I remember correctly, (Greenspan offered) some indication that things were bottoming out, but again I think that’s reflective of what others are saying.”

One senator who has been pressing to boost transparency at the Fed, South Carolina’s Jim DeMint, said he was unable to corner Greenspan and ask him about efforts to give authority to the Government Accountability Office to audit the central bank’s operations.

DeMint’s effort earlier this month to attach a provision that would give the GAO such oversight was blocked in the Senate.

“We ran out of time, and there were or six or eight guys who jumped in front of me asking questions” of Greenspan, DeMint said. He said Greenspan’s presentation focused on the unsustainable debt level and if that was not dealt with, “we are on a collision course with disaster.”

For more Reuters political news, click here.

- Photo credit: Reuters/Kevin Lamarque (Greenspan testifying to Congress in 2008)

With General Motors expected to file for bankruptcy next week, former Vice President Dick Cheney said on Wednesday that he wanted the company to take that step months ago when George W. Bush was still president.

“Some of us at the time wanted GM to go bankrupt, go to Chapter 11,” Cheney said in an interview with CNBC’s “The Kudlow Report”. But Cheney apparently was in the minority with that view at the time.

“The decision was made that, in the final analysis, since our administration was almost over and a brand-new team was about to take over that the president wanted, in effect, not to take a step that wasn’t necessarily going to be followed by his successor, but rather to set up a situation which the new guys could address that issue and make a decision about what the long-term policy was going to be,” he said.

Cheney, who has been in a very public fight with President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden over national security policies, took on the Obama administration’s economic policies in the interview with CNBC’s Larry Kudlow.

Asked whether he agreed with criticism that Obama was pursuing some kind of socialist agenda, Cheney  said he would not use that label but did not like what he was seeing.

“I agree with the criticism without using the labels. I don’t want to get into trying to label President Obama. He’s our president. At this point, he’s the only one we’ve got. He won the election, and he obviously is entitled to pursue those policies that he wants to pursue,” Cheney said.

“What we’ve been seeing, though, and what’s been advocated by the president and what looks to be in store if he’s successful is that we’re seeing a vast expansion, not only the power of the federal government over the private sector but also in terms of spending,” he said.

The former vice president also tried to take back a rebuke of retired General Colin Powell.  Cheney previously said that the former secretary of state in the Bush administration had left the Republican party.

“Well, we’re happy to have General Powell in the Republican Party,” Cheney said.

For more Reuters political news, click here.

- Photo credit: Josh Roberts (Cheney before giving a speech on national security on May 21.)

What's in U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's wallet? Not much.

While testifying in front of a House Appropriations Subcommittee on Capitol Hill Thursday Geithner was shown a $50 Billion Zimbabwean bank note (rendered worthless by Zimbabwe's hyperinflation) by U.S. Representative John Culberson (R- TX) and asked if he had ever seen one himself. Geithner immediately pulled a piece of Zimbabwean currency out of his own pocket and showed it off to the committee. At the next break in the hearing I approached Geithner and asked how he happened to have a piece of foreign currency in his pocket. His response was "I often have some foreign currency in my wallet. Want to see?" He pulled a very thin and mostly empty wallet from his pocket.

Amongst many empty slots in the thin weathered leather wallet there could be seen three credit or debit cards with Visa and Mastercard logos (all inserted into the wallet upside down so that the card issuers could not be seen) and an old and yellowed looking identification card of indeterminate origin.

From inside the wallet Geithner extracted a small pile of receipts and paper including a New York City MTA farecard, pointing out that there were European Euros tucked amongst the paper.

Notably not seen in the U.S. Treasury Secretary's wallet? Any U.S. dollars.

- Photo Credits:  Jim Bourg/Reuters  (U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner puts a piece of foreign currency back after showing off the contents of his wallet to a photographer during a break in his congressional testimony in Washington, May 21, 2009.)

WASHINGTON - U.S. President Barack Obama has yet to turn around the troubled U.S. economy, but American voters have confidence in his efforts and see him headed in the right direction.

Those are among the findings of a survey released on Tuesday that also showed Americans have greater confidence in Obama’s fellow Democrats than they do in rival Republicans.
 
The survey, however, had some troublesome numbers for the Democrats’ third-highest ranking elected official — House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
 
Just 26 percent of respondents said they had a “great deal” or “some” trust in the California Democrat, who stands second in the line of succession to Obama, behind only Vice President Joe Biden.
 
The poll found that more respondents, 38 percent and 28 percent, respectively, had such a level of trust in Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, the failed 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee, and conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh, respectively.
 
The Public Strategies Inc./POLITICO nationwide survey of 1,000 registered voters was conducted March 27-31 and had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percent.
 
The poll found that 66 percent of respondents said they have a “great deal” or “some” trust in Obama, who has battled Republicans as well as some Democrats in the U.S. Congress, largely over fiscal policy, since taking office on January 20.
 
The survey found that 52 percent of respondents have a “great deal” or “some” trust in Democrats, while just 40 percent have such a level of confidence in Republicans, who vigorously opposed Obama’s $787 billion economic stimulus package and $3.5 trillion budget plan.
 
The survey found with Obama at the helm, 54 percent of respondents said they believe that the U.S. government is headed in the right direction, up from 35 percent in December before the new president took office.
 
Obama, in a speech on Tuesday in Washington, said there were signs of economic recovery but cautioned “by no means are we out of the woods just yet.”

For more Reuters political news, click here.

Photo credit: Reuters/Larry Downing - U.S. President Barack Obama speaks about the economy at Gaston Hall at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. on April 14, 2009.

Guess what? There’s more bad news about the economy today.

Numbers out today show the unemployment rate has risen to its highest rate in 25 years as companies buckled under the strain of a recession that is showing no signs of ending.

Want to hear more? The head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Keith Hall, testifies to Congress about the employment picture at 9:30.

In the Obama administration’s first public overture to Tehran, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has invited Iran to a conference on Afghanistan planned for this month. Traveling in Brussels, Clinton also said the problems of climate change and the economy should be tackled simultaneously.

President Obama travels to Columbus, Ohio to show the $787 billion stimulus package at work: police cadets who would have been let go will instead be sworn in as officers. Attorney Eric Holder joins him.

photo credit: REUTERS/Mike Segar (People wait in line at a job fair in New York, March 5)

For more Reuters political coverage, click here.

There’s a cold wind blowing in Washington on Tuesday morning, one day after a late-winter storm dumped up to a foot of snow on the region. DC residents anticipate a thaw when our national leaders provide their daily dose of hot air.

President Obama meets U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown at the White House at 11:30. They are expected to discuss their efforts to revive the global economy.

After that, Obama meets with Boy Scouts at 3 p.m.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke testifies to Congress about the economy starting at 10:00, and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner testifies about Obama’s budget proposal at 12:30. Markets are continuing to swoon after yesterday’s plunge; will their testimony spark a rally?

At the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Robert Gates will meet his French counterpart, Herve Morin.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in Jerusalem, pledged to push hard for Palestinian statehood and said the United States might seek to improve relations with Syria.

The Senate begins debate on a $410 billion spending bill that would cover government operations through October. Obama’s former rival, Republican Senator John McCain, is upset about the earmarks contained in the bill.

The House may vote on a housing bill that would let bankruptcy judges reduce mortgage debt.

Photo credit: REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque (A worker clears snow from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington on March 2)

For more Reuters political coverage, click here.