Is There a Confict Here?

The reviews are coming in:

Has Barack Obama’s presidency already failed? In normal times, this would be a ludicrous question. But these are not normal times. They are times of great danger. ... What is needed? The answer is: focus and ferocity. If Mr Obama does not fix this crisis, all he hopes from his presidency will be lost.

That's the not-easily frightened Martin Wolf in the Financial Times (link). Compare:

Barack Obama for Treasury Secretary!

... Barack Obama stepped up to show ... how questions about nationalization should be answered: [he made] as clear and well-argued a case for not nationalizing as you could hope to get. ...

That is the not-easily conned Felix Salmon (link). And yes, I am being cute here. The ellipses white out the parts in which Salmon agrees with just about everybody: Geithner laid an egg, and if he doesn't find someway to talk (cluck?) his way out of the problem, he can join the line of unemployed bankers. Salmon seems to differ from the common herd in believing the game is not entirely lost yet. Of course that has to be right. While the chicken littles like are clucking in our own way, this is one news cycle and this game can change at whiplash speed.

Funny thing about Geithner: I had thought he was Larry Summers' errand boy and front man. Seems like I got that one wrong: all reports are that he is an aggressive player in his own right. Dunno, maybe he is good at the inside/operations/dealmaking thing. But he certainly did not have a good day.