but there s also sometimes you get, as chris matthews once said, you start getting the second and third string. so there s a balancing act here as the clock winds down. i think that s right. i don t think we re looking at a second and third-string problem at this point. jack lew is by any measure a first-string civil servant. but i think your broader point is correct. you think about the bush administration. you saw hank paulson come in at treasury, bob gates at defense. i think both proved to be important in their roles. that doesn t need you need quite the same changeover. one lien is that the predecessors were considered failures. tim geithner s tenure has been controversial but i think broadly speaking what he did to write the financial system will be considered a tremendous achievement in the annals of economic policy-making. but again, they are in something of a rut, i think, in their economic policy-making at this point, and particularly in their approach to dealing with repub