Eliot Spitzer Wants Geithner Out: I’d Like To See A Petition Demanding ‘A Treasury Secretary Who Understands Reform’
Last night, after moderating a discussion on Wall Street, former governor and former CNN anchor Eliot Spitzer shared his thoughts about the Occupy Wall Street protest movement with the crowd, telling them that he would like to see people take it one step forward and band together to remove U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner from office.
According to Capital New York’s Joe Pompeo, Spitzer said:
You know what I would like to see? I’d like to see a petition with a hundred million signatures, submitted to the White House tomorrow morning, saying, “Give us a treasury secretary who understands reform.” Bring Paul Volcker in. Bring in Joe Stiglitz. Bring in Paul Krugman. Bring in Robert Reich. People who understand what can be done and are willing to flex their muscles in a meaningful way.
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He added that he supports the protesters despite what many continue to complain is a lack of a central message or productive plan. Their methods, he told those gathered, is the message:
The reason I am intensely sympathetic to the Occupy Wall Street folks, even though when you look at them and listen to it, it sounds like a visceral scream of anger rather than an articulated policy prescription—that’s OK. Because at a certain point that visceral response saying, “We’ve had enough,” is what is critically important.
It’s not up to them to come up with a 10-point plan. It’s up to them, those who have the courage to get out there and say, “We have finally had enough,” to get the attention of the Geithners, and the Jamie Dimons, and the Lloyd Blankfeins, to say, “You’ve been bailed out and our mortgages haven’t. Our houses [are] in foreclosure, and we don’t have jobs, and you’re saying, ‘Moral hazard,’ but where was moral hazard when we gave you your bonus?’ Something has got to be done.”
He seemed hesitant about joining the protests down in lower Manhattan because, as he sees it, they benefit from not yet having been “co-opted” by any given politician or celebrity, even as various lobby groups and unions have begun participating in the movement and big names — like director Michael Moore — have voiced their support from the protests.
The former host also revealed he has no current plans to return to CNN, or any other network, but is enjoying being “here and there,” particularly as a guest on Keith Olbermann‘s Current TV program, where he has also discussed his thought about Occupy Wall Street.
h/t Capital NY
