Tim Geithner, congressional punching bag

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner must have felt as if he'd made a wrong turn in the Rayburn House Office Building, and instead of taking a seat before the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform had wound up at the Committee on Insult and Abuse.

It was a rare moment of bipartisan agreement: Republicans and Democrats alike seemed to detest the guy. They were asking about his role in the $180 billion bailout of insurance giant AIG, too-generous government payouts to AIG's business partners, and efforts to hide details of the deal from the public. But really, they were just angry in general over the sweetheart deals the Obama and Bush administrations gave Wall Street -- and Geithner, first as head of the New York Fed and then as Treasury secretary, was a prime culprit.

"You are either incompetent on the job, or you were not doing your job and knew what was taking place and tried to conceal it," charged Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.). "I think that's grounds for your removal."

"It just stinks to the high heaven, what happened here," added Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.). "I don't like the obfuscation. . . . It makes me doubt your commitment to the American people."

There was barely a word of support for the Treasury chief, as expressions of disbelief rained on Geithner from both sides of the dais -- "It stretched credulity. . . . It just doesn't make any sense" -- and the criticism became unusually personal. "When you were being confirmed," Mica recalled, "a lot of controversy surrounded your not paying your taxes. You gave lame excuses then. I believe you're giving lame excuses now."

He may be well loved on Wall Street, but Geithner wasn't going to find friends among these countrymen. "We have come to bury Caesar, not to praise him," said Rep. Paul Kanjorski (D-Pa.). "And I hope you appreciate the role of Caesar that you're playing today."

At least Caesar had the privilege of being knifed in the Senate.

Geithner's timing for this humiliation was good: Hours before President Obama's State of the Union address, the hearing would soon be eclipsed and forgotten. But that was about the only thing Geithner had going for him. He made things worse for himself by adopting a condescending, smartest-guy-in-the-room attitude. Given the setting, he may indeed have been the smartest guy in the room, but the attitude only enraged his questioners further.

Asked why he shouldn't resign, Geithner replied, piously: "I have worked in public service all my life. I have never been a politician."

When Mica persisted, Geithner replied, haughtily: "Congressman, you don't know me very well."

Geithner took frequent opportunities to correct the lawmakers ("It does not do that. . . . That's not a fair reading. . . . No, not in this particular case. . . . I wouldn't use that term. . . . It's slightly more complicated than that. . . . Maybe this will be helpful for me to say to you. . . . Let me tell you something") and offered up comebacks that did not endear him to the members.

"In an answer to one of my colleagues, you previously stated that you had never been a politician," Rep. Michael Turner (R-Ohio) told the witness. "I want to assure you, from your answers today, that you are absolutely a politician."