Pat Dollard | Young Americans

Eh hmmm … Correct me if I am wrong but isn’t saying that in DC pretty much like being put on the cover of Sports Illustrated before the big game?

A curse …

Politico:

By EAMON JAVERS

If there was any doubt the White House is feeling the heat over Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner’s role in the AIG bonuses, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs gave a big clue Tuesday.

“The president has complete confidence” in Geithner, Gibbs told reporters.

In Washington terms, “complete” and “confidence” are the two words no public official ever wants to hear, often a harbinger of trouble. And with public and congressional fury growing over the $165 million in bonuses, Geithner’s role in the situation is getting close scrutiny.

Gibbs said, however, the White House is standing by Geithner, even as questions are being raised whether he did enough to head off the controversial bonuses.

“The secretary of the treasury did as much in his legal power at the time to lessen the impact of what we all understand is outrageous,” Gibbs said at the White House news briefing.

The comments came a day after President Barack Obama offered an unscripted aside to bolster Geithner as well: “I want everybody to be clear that Secretary Geithner has been on the case. He’s working to resolve this matter with the new CEO, Edward Liddy.”

Geithner has had a rocky start in the job, widely criticized for rolling out a financial reform plan that was vague and failed to reassure the markets. The latest controversy put him back in the spotlight on the question of why U.S. taxpayer dollars went for bonuses for some of the very financial executives who contributed to the global meltdown in the first place.

The White House has sent mixed signals on the bonuses: The Obama administration first said on Sunday that there was nothing Geithner could do to recoup the payments, but then Obama on Monday said he was asking Geithner to do everything in his power to get the money back.

Asked by a reporter if Geithner had failed to understand the magnitude of the political problem that the bonuses would represent, Gibbs said that would be “very unfair” to Geithner.

Even Gibbs has used “confidence” in the past, when the confidence was somewhat less than complete.

Gibbs in February said saying the “president has confidence in the system” of vetting potential White House appointees. Gibbs came after several White House picks had faced unexpected embarrassments. The White House later tightened up its vetting process.