It's President Obama's 100th day in office, and he's going to get a lot of coverage for it.  So much coverage, in fact, that I already find myself with nothing new to add to the "How's Obama Doing?" conversation.

Instead, I thought I'd focus on what I think is quite possibly the worst job in the administration right now: Secretary of the Treasury.  It's been 92 days since Timothy F. Geithner was sworn in.  What's that guy been up to?

So, here we go, a brief, only slightly serious history of Timothy F. Geithner's tenure as 75th Secretary of the Treasury.

Sworn in by Joe Biden, Jan. 27, 2009.  Remarks:

Treasury's tradition is to defend the integrity of policy, to respect the constraints imposed by limited resources, and to limit government intervention to where it is essential to protect our financial system and improve the lives of the American people.

Day 1: Announced new rules "designed to crack down on lobbyist influence over the financial-rescue program and make sure that political clout isn't a factor in awarding bailout money," as part of the President's Emergency Economic Stabilization Act.

2: Announced all contracts relating to the TARP would be posted online.  I, for one, have lost hours here.

7: First mention in "The Onion."  "Cheney Dunk Tank Raises $800B for Nation."

9: Geithner, Obama announce $500,000 salary cap for executives at bailed-out firms. Millions of college sophomores change their majors to pre-law.

15: Geithner announces Financial Stability Plan -- or, more accurately, announces that there IS a Financial Stability Plan, but leaves the details at home.  Oops!  Markets tank.  Geithner testifies before the Senate Banking Committee.

16: Geithner testifies before the Senate Budget Committee.  New record: most hours in front of Congress saying nothing... no, just checked, that's still held by Jimmy Stewart.

19-20: G7 Ministers and Central Bank Governors meeting in Rome, where U.S. stimulus is attacked by cheapskate fiscally conservative countries.

22: Treasury Receives G.M., Chrysler Restructuring Plans.  Upon realizing the plans are written on the back of well-used bar napkins, Geithner fires every appointee who works for him, twice, and zero minus zero being zero (even with deflation), has the same number of staff he did when he started.

23: Geithner announces additional $200 Billion in funding to Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae.  In unrelated news, at least one Open Salon blogger considers changing her name to Fannie Mae Smith.

28: Trading begins on InTrade on whether Geithner will resign before June 30, 2009.  It reaches a peak of 1:12 odds in mid-March.

36: Geithner testifies before House Ways and Means Committee about President's budget.

37: Geithner testifies before Senate Finance Committee about President's budget.

38: Geithner testifies before House Budget Committee about President's budget and hopes no one notices he's reading the same testimony for a third time.

39: Called to testify before House Mean Budget Financing Senate Committee, Geithner figures out too late it's just another one of Orzsag's funny, funny little jokes.

40: Saturday Night Live opens with a Geithner sketch featuring the Treasury Secretary offering $420 billion to anyone who can figure out how to fix the problem:

41: The Onion: "Sixteen hours and 25 cups of coffee into into a Treasury Dept. strategy session, Tim Geithner proposes nationalizing CitiGroup, Bank of America, all nine seasons of Seinfeld, toast, Albania, and the third law of thermodynamics.”

43: Geithner finds out about $165 million in promised AIG bonuses.

44: Geithner calls AIG CEO Liddy about bonuses.  Also, issues statement in advance of G20 meeting.

45: Geithner testifies before Senate Budget Committee.  That night, he calls Obama about bonuses. 

46-47: In Europe for G20 meetings.  Of note: $1 Trillion increase in IMF funding.  Also: no hug from the Queen.

48: Launch of "Daily Geithner," a tumblog providing a photo/quote mash-up of Geithner.  My favorite involves pistachios, though the Zoolander reference is good, too.

49: Obama, Geithner at White House for to make angry statements on AIG bonuses.

50: Launch of "Hey Paul Krugman," featuring the Geithner-referential chorus of “I listen to him, all I hear is blah blah blah.”

51: President Obama says he has “complete confidence in Tim Geithner and my entire economic team.” Intrade bets on Geithner resignation spike.

54: Geithner Plan, AKA the Public-Private Partnership Investment Program (PPIP) is leaked, guaranteeing a despairing Paul Krugman's home computer a great deal of job security.

56: Geithner unveils the details of the "Geithner Plan."  Tries (unsuccessfully) to rename "toxic" assets as "legacy" assets, among other sleights of hand. 

57: Geithner, Bernanke Testify on Capitol Hill.  The Geithner/Maxine Waters exchange is great theater.  Bonus Geithner eye-rolling.  Also: Launch of "The Treasury Secretary Song" in response to "Hey Paul Krugman."



Creepiness quotient: medium high.

58: In a speech at the Council on Foreign Relations, Geithner answers a question about a recent Chinese proposal to increase special drawing rights at the IMF that somehow translates to Representative Michelle Bachmann and the currency markets as an immediate plan to overthrow the dollar in favor of, I don't know, coins made from bone pieced together after every sane person in the world suffers simulataneous brain explosion from the impact of the dumb.  He is forced to issue a correction, using very small words.

59: Geithner calls for major regulatory reform, including giving Treasury the power to "unwind" large non-bank financial institutions.  "Our system failed in fundamental ways," he tells the House Financial Services Committee.  I can't make any jokes about this.

62: Geithner goes to Colombia for Inter-American Development Bank Meeting and reaffirms administration support for expanded IMF aid to developing countries during the crisis.

63: Treasury's Car Czar announces G.M. CEO will be fired.

65: Appointed, with Secretary Clinton, as a Special Representative for the U.S. to the U.S. China Strategic Economic Dialogue.  Beats getting a hobby.

69: Geithner says on "Face the Nation" that he will consider firing CEO's at underperforming banks.  Much of business blogosphere laughs itself to sleep.

74: Poll shows majority of Republicans and Democrats have "significant doubts" about Geithner.  In unrelated news, Geithner spends afternoon working out cost-benefit analysis of getting a dog.

85: First Cabinet meeting, and Geithner is stuck underneath cameras and boom mikes and elbowed by Joe Biden whenever he tries to speak, "neither seen nor heard" being the new White House Geithner Plan.  Contra that plan, Geithner testifies before Congressional Oversight Panel.

86: Portfolio publishes critical cover story: "The Reeducation of Tim Geithner," which features a list of "no comments" from people who were up-beat about Geithner's term in an earlier January feature.  Benefits now outweigh costs of dog dramatically.

88: Geithner plays host to G7 and G8 ministers, holds press conference: Markets Survive!

89-90: World Bank-IMF meetings.

91: New York Times cover story profile, "Geithner, Member and Overseer of Finance Club," published, along with an entire year of Geithner's daily schedule at the New York Fed. Highly critical of many meetings Geithner had with bank leadership during his tenure at the Fed.  Quickly becomes one of the most-blogged pieces at NYT, as readers who can't tell the difference between Treasury and the Fed are invited to submit their observations about his calendar.

Day 92, April 28: I assume he took this day off to train the new dog.  Or cry.  Whatever.

 

All right, all right, clearly not an exhaustive list.  But a little something different, and I'm always happy to throw out lame Tim Geithner jokes to an audience that might offer sympathetic groans in the comments.

Special Saturn Note: This also marks the end of my own 100-posts-in-100-days experiment.  Did I get there?  No.  Did I get close?  Yeah, not bad.  I'll keep trying.