海角大神

President-elect Obama鈥檚 new economic team may represent continuity as much as change.

True, Treasury Secretary-designate Timothy Geithner is only 47, and looks younger. But he鈥檚 served as a high-ranking US official for years, and as president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York he鈥檚 helped shape the Bush administration鈥檚 current financial rescue efforts.

Lawrence Summers, set to advise Mr. Obama from inside the White House as head of the National Economic Council, was a Treasury secretary under President Bill Clinton. The probable new budget chief, Peter Orszag, already runs the Congressional Budget Office.

To some critics, this trio may not look like the radical break from past politics that candidate Obama promised. But at a time when the US economy is as fragile as it has been in a generation, in a bid to calm markets the president-elect appears to have opted for known figures respected by both parties.

鈥淚f ever there was a time for bipartisanship in the transition of power in Washington, this is that time,鈥� concluded a Nov. 21 analysis of the US economy from Goldman Sachs.

Obama and his transition team have begun moving more quickly following a week of wild stock market volatility, due in part to a perceived vacuum of leadership in Washington.

For instance, it鈥檚 now all but certain there won鈥檛 be a new government stimulus package until after Inauguration Day. It鈥檚 unclear whether Congress will be able to coalesce around any bailout proposal for the Big Three US automakers. Current Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson has said he鈥檚 going to sit on the remaining half of his $700 billion financial rescue fund, saving it for the incoming Obama administration.

Given this context, the Obama team decided it needed to take action, and on Nov. 22 in the Democrats鈥� weekly radio address Obama vowed to design a two-year stimulus plan with the goal of saving or creating 2.5 million jobs.

Following that, on Monday Obama is set to introduce his top economic trio all at once, said transition officials. New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson also is likely to be nominated secretary of Commerce, although that announcement may come later in the month.

The prospect of Mr. Geithner, a known quantity to investors, at Treasury already has cheered the stock market, at least for one day, as it rose 6.5 percent to close at 8046.42 on Friday.

As head of the New York Fed, Geithner serves a role close to that of official Treasury envoy to Wall Street. With Secretary Paulson and Federal Reserve Board chairman Ben Bernanke, Geithner is already part of the inner team running US financial rescue policy.

Boyish and unpretentious, Geithner is well-liked by his staff. He鈥檚 not an economist by training, or a veteran of Wall Street鈥檚 commercial world. Instead, he鈥檚 largely risen through the bureaucratic ranks, having worked in a variety of Treasury positions. He鈥檚 also served a stint at the International Monetary Fund, where he was director of policy development from 2001 to 2003.

If any one word describes his professional focus, it might be 鈥渋nternationalist.鈥� His undergraduate degree from Dartmouth College was in government and Asian studies, and his master鈥檚 degree, from Johns Hopkins, was in international economics.

He rose to prominence within the Treasury in part due to the brilliance of his work in helping to manage the multiple international economic crises of the 1990s in Brazil, Mexico, Indonesia, South Korea, and Thailand.

鈥淗e鈥檚 the best choice鈥� from Obama鈥檚 short list of Treasury candidates, says Peter Morici, a University of Maryland business professor and former chief economist of the US International Trade Commission.

But Geithner also represents the status quo, says Dr. Morici, and thus may not push for changes radically different from those pursued by President Bush.

In addition, Geithner is a former prot茅g茅 of Mr. Summers, who is slated to be top White House economic adviser. Himself a former Treasury chief, Summers is famously strong-willed. He stepped down from the post of Harvard president in 2006 following comments, including some on women鈥檚 contribution to science, that riled many in the university鈥檚 community.

The relationship between Summers and Geithner may be analogous to that between Henry Kissinger and William Rogers when the former served as President Nixon鈥檚 national security adviser and the latter was secretary of State, according to Morici.

Dr. Kissinger sought to undermine his rival at every turn and eventually dominated policymaking from his position close to the president. 鈥淕eithner had better study up on the Kissinger-Rogers relationship,鈥� says Morici.

Meanwhile, a top Obama adviser said Sunday that the stock market鈥檚 leap on Friday showed the wisdom of the president-elect鈥檚 choice of Geithner.

鈥淭he response has been great, and it should be.... Tim Geithner is uniquely qualified to do this job,鈥� said David Axelrod, an Obama senior adviser, in a broadcast interview.

Geithner and others will get to work on designing a stimulus plan that will be significantly larger than the $175 billion investment that Obama proposed during his campaign, said Mr. Axelrod.

鈥淥ur hope is that the new Congress begins work on this as soon as they take office in early January, because we don鈥檛 have time to waste here,鈥� said Axelrod.

• Associated Press material was used in this report.