Among the policymaking din at the White House, the voices of Larry Summers and Tim Geithner have emerged as the loudest—and generally in unison, the Washington Post reports. The duo first teamed up to battle financial crises in Asia and Mexico in the mid-‘90s at the Treasury Department; a friendship formed, complete with tennis camp vacations, and the pair have once again become a potent voice representing an administration and an agenda.
Geithner and Summers have taken the lead on myriad policies including job-creation through the stimulus, rebuilding the banking system, restructuring automakers, fixing the housing crisis, and overhauling banking regulation. Critics feel they are taking on too many issues, but President Obama has become reliant on their counsel across the board, and when Geithner and Summers push on an issue, they generally push together—and they generally have their way.
(More Obama administration stories.)