We Need New Leadership, Now

Washington is carrying out “business as usual in the most unusual economic moment of our lifetimes,” writes Thomas Friedman in the New York Times. It’s time for our leaders to wake up to the enormity of the financial crisis, the real "weapon of mass destruction,"  a problem that only serious capital and confidence can resolve, he warns. One step toward getting that confidence: inaugurate Barack Obama now.

That’s logistically unrealistic. But we could call for President Bush to immediately appoint Obama’s proposed treasury secretary, Tim Geithner, Friedman suggests. “We can’t afford two months where the markets don’t know who is in charge or where we’re going,” he emphasizes. Our current crisis is largely due to “loss of confidence." Obama can’t wave a “magic wand,” but his presence would help, Friedman notes.
(More President Obama stories.)