Geithner Wins Over Wall Street

The carefully orchestrated roll out of the federal plan to buy toxic assets has won Tim Geithner Wall Street's support in the nick of time, Jackie Calmes writes in the New York Times. The Treasury secretary—whose plan was slammed when the "framework" was unveiled last month—could scarcely afford another setback, Calmes writes, making the Dow's 500-point leap on the plan’s unveiling all the more important.

Treasury officials insist the positive verdict this time around was solely due to added details, but Calmes believes that finer stage-managing was clearly apparent yesterday. The administration urged top officials to show their support for the embattled Geithner, and President Obama himself took steps to calm the fears of private investors central to the plan—including easing his rhetoric on AIG bonuses.
(More Wall Street bailout stories.)