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Fair play
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In case you missed it, there are some calling for Treasury Secretary Tim Geitner to step down because of the way he’s handled the economy -- surely one of the most difficult jobs in the universe at the moment. Given that the man’s only been on the job about six weeks, calls for his head seem a bit rash.

In other words, shouldn’t he be given a fair amount of time to make a go of it?

After all, this isn’t a problem he nor the administration he works for created. It seems rather to have been one caused by people from just about every demographic we have. Yet as our more partisan politicians bicker, point fingers and look for ways to win votes, it might be instructive to recall the root of our current calamity was an overheated housing market, which got that way under the disguise of making the American dream of home ownership available to everyone.

That’s a noble goal but not when it extends also to irresponsible borrowing, lending or investing in either -- and what we’ve been seeing is sad proof of just how pervasive all three were in recent years.

In addition, now might also be a good time to note it was Republicans who despite opposition opened the Pandora’s box of bailouts in 2008 under President George W. Bush. Remember Bear Stearns?

But this isn’t about partisanship. Many Republicans opposed the bailouts then and continue to do so now, including Georgia legislators such as Jack Kingston. We also have opposed bailouts on the grounds they reward bad behavior while punishing those who have played by the rules and continue to believe that is the case. But now is as good a time as any to remember something else, which we’ve heard from local politicians on more than one occasion: They were elected to make decisions.

If you don’t like the decisions they make, you have every right to vote against them in the next election.

That’s what makes this country great, still. And Geitner --not an elected official, but he serves at the behest of one who will have to answer to voters -- deserves as much of an opportunity to succeed or fail as anyone else, regardless of political party.

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