Treasury Gets Rad

The historic events of Novemebr 4th 2008 are propagating further momentous occasions. Yesterday the NY Times reported that Timothy Geithner is likely to be Obama’s choice for Treasury Secretary. While some find hope in Geithner’s prescience about the current crises or his lack of clear political alignment, I celebrate the trivial.

According to the economist, Geithner is an avid board sports enthusiast. To my knowledge, this makes him the first skater nominated to a cabinet level position. This is surely a sign of the times and I can’t believe I didn’t see it coming. With social security hanging by a thread, we are constantly reminded that the baby boomers are graying, but I never considered what a Gen-X leadership would look like.

Before a half-pipe is built on the South Lawn and copies of Thrasher start littering the oval office, its reasonable to think about what Geithner’s affinity for board sports signifies about his approach to fiscal matters. Maybe having an adrenaline junkie in the cabinet is a recipe for disaster. Letting Lehman Bros. fail, though exciting, seems to have been a poor decision in retrospect. But who better than a skater to learn from experience? Action sports athletes know all to well the cost of not committing fully. Though the stakes for Geithner are arguably higher than at your local crew’s hesh sesh, I am comforted that he shares some of their concepts on risk.