UPDATE: And TNR’s Noam Scheiber tells us why Tim Geithner and Larry Summers may be a match made in policy-wonk heaven.:
But, beyond the pairing of person and job, it’s the way these guys complement one another that’s really key here. Geithner is the rare bureaucrat with the smarts and the self-confidence to effectively challenge Summers when he’s off base. As I wrote earlier this month:
Geithner had become a check on the bandwagon-jumping Summers’s intellect could inspire–and which Summers, to his credit, reflexively resisted. “When you’re talking to the Treasury secretary or the under secretary, there’s a strong tendency for everybody to leap on what that person is saying and agree,” says one co-worker. “Tim’s fundamental function was to interrupt that process.”