Obama: No Decisions on Possible Geithner, Summers Departures
President Barack Obama hedged Monday on whether he planned to keep Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and economic adviser Larry Summers on his staff after the midterm election.
CNBC reporter John Harwood posed the question to Obama during a town hall meeting on the economy in Washington.
“I have not made any determinations about personnel,” the president said. “Larry Summers and Tim Geithner have done an outstanding job, as have my whole economic team. This is tough, the work that they do. They’ve been at it for two years. And, you know, they’re going to have a whole range of decisions about family that’ll factor into this as well.”
Obama left the door open for a post-election shake-up of his economic team, however, when he said “the bottom line” is making sure that the administration is working as well as it could. “We’re constantly thinking … do we have other options and other alternatives that we can explore?” he said.