Obama gives Treasury secretary vote of confidence during '60 Minutes' interview

from TheMatadorOnline.com newsroom:


By Mark Silva

Tribune Washington Bureau

(MCT)

WASHINGTON _ The besieged secretary of the Treasury gets a strong vote of confidence from President Barack Obama in a TV interview to be broadcast Sunday.

In a 90-minute session with "60 Minutes" interviewer Steve Kroft, Obama tells Kroft that if Timothy Geithner were to tender his resignation, he would tell him, "Sorry, buddy, you've still got the job."

The president stressed that neither he nor Geithner has mentioned resignation. But Obama said that criticism is natural, in light of the circumstances.

"It's going to take a little bit more time than we would like to make sure that we get this plan just right," Obama said. "Of course, then we'd still be subject to criticism _ 'What's taken so long? You've been in office a whole 40 days and you haven't solved the greatest financial crisis since the Great Depression.' "

The president also discussed the proposed bonus tax for companies that have collected federal bailout money, health care, assistance for automakers, and the situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Addressing national security, Obama had an answer for Vice President Dick Cheney's recent contention that the new president has put the nation at greater risk with his plans to close the detention center at Guantanamo Bay and prohibit torture of prisoners.

"How many terrorists have actually been brought to justice under the philosophy that is being promoted by Vice President Cheney?" Obama said. "It hasn't made us safer. What it has been is a great advertisement for anti-American sentiment."

Asked about released prisoners who have returned to terrorist groups, Obama said: "There is no doubt that we have not done a particularly effective job in sorting through who are truly dangerous individuals ... to make sure (they) are not a threat to us."

But the president said the Bush administration's policy on detainees at Guantanamo _ including long incarcerations without trial _ is "unsustainable."

Excerpts from the interview, taped Friday, will air on "60 Minutes" Sunday at 7 p.m. EDT.

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