How holds make it impossible to fire Tim Geithner (or anyone else)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is trying to change the face of a federal judiciary that has a long tradition of white men passing judgment on parties from all walks of life — if he can get his nominees past the Senate.

Harry Reid takes aim at Republicans for blocking so many of Barack Obama's nominees:

Tevi Troy says that the problem with the administration's recess appointment for Don Berwick was not the appointment itself, or even the procedure used to enact it, but the timing of that procedure.

I've never been able to get a straight answer on why, exactly, senators should be able to place anonymous holds on nominees. I can see the arguments for holds themselves: They allow senators to express strong opposition and, from a bargaining standpoint, they give senators leverage to use on other priorities. But making a hold anonymous undermines both arguments: It means no one knows why there's opposition and no senator can bargain on the issue.

Bruce Bartlett thinks that Timothy Geithner is becoming a liability to Obama, but there's not much Obama can do about it.

One reason that Barack Obama has stayed in pretty good political shape despite a terrible economic situation is that the public has consistently recalled that this recession began under George W Bush and reached its highest point of crisis under Bush.

By Simon Johnson.  Tim Geithner and Larry Summers are talking a good game on fiscal policy to the G20.  But they are struggling with to establish traction for their “spend now, consolidate later” message.  Fortunately, there is an easy and obvious opportunity to establish credibility on this issue: Bring Paul Krugman into government.