NYT: Geithner has some ’splaining to do

The New York Times editorial board, says, politely, that Barack Obama’s Treasury Secretary-designee, Tim Geithner, has been lying about the Lehman Bros. non-bailout, followed by the AIG bailout:

(T)he Fed and the Treasury have now changed their story about how the calamity unfolded. … (A)n after-the-fact revision of what happened at best raises questions and worse, looks like an attempt to dodge accountability. … In the absence of an explanation, the changing Lehman story seems like an attempt to deflect public attention from what could go down in history as an epic blunder

Nooo! Say it ain’t so! I guess Just.Another.Politician™ disease is spreading.

The possible lie? Now claiming the Fed had no legal authority re Lehman, rather than the original line that the Fed thought Lehman simply should be left to its own devices.

In other words, a cover-up of a Geithner/Bernanke blunder.

Read the full editorial.

Oh, and Obama certainly knew about this doublespeak well before he nominated Geither.

And, if the Dynamic Duo screwed this up, doesn’t that really relate to the confidence level of them handling the $1 trillion, $2 trillion, or 12-trillion Obamabucks stimulus?