Tim Geithner ... SUPER Genius

The man who let the horses out the barn has just been hired as the world's foremost gate-closing expert.

Confirming Tim Geithner -- shown at left making his "grrrr" face -- as U.S. Treasury secretary makes as much sense as electing John Rambo to be mayor of Hope, Washington.

I'll readily confess that I've drunk three-quarters of a gallon of the Obama Kool-Aid, but I just can't swallow Geithner's nomination and confirmation to the post of financial savior. Unlike most people, I care not a whit that Geithner cheated on his taxes. What makes me pig-biting mad about his ascendancy is that

A. As a Clinton administration official, Geithner played a key role in building the financial house of cards that began collapsing this past summer;

2. The five years that Geithner spent working for the International Monetary Fund were probably the worst half-decade the IMF ever experienced in terms of efficacy and esteem; and

iii. As chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Geithner failed to see, prevent, or stem the tsunami of bank and investment house failures.

How could a man who has done nothing throughout his career but prove his incompetence rise to such a powerful -- and at this moment, world-shaping -- position? Sure, Wiley E. Coyote got a multifilm deal on account of being a colossal screw-up, but I cannot understand why Geithner should be rewarded for failing spectacularly at everything he's ever done in his chosen profession.

All I can figure is that the primarily long-serving members of the U.S. Senate Finance Committee chose not to press him Geithner on his leadership role in putting the world's economy on the brink of unprecedented disaster because they didn't want light shed on their own complicity in setting the stage for the crisis. So dang them all to heck, as well.

Given his track record, my unfortunate prediction for Geithner's run as Treasury secretary is that he will make us pine for the excellence Alberto Gonzales showed at Justice. I hope I'm wrong, but Geithner has demonstrated little to merit such hope.