The Treasury Department's communications problems have been aggravated by the administration's delay in filling senior positions under Geithner, partly because of the increasingly stringent vetting rules. But Neal Wolin, previously the department's general counsel, was nominated Monday for deputy Treasury secretary, potentially easing the load Geithner has been carrying and adding another voice for the administration.
At the same time, Lael Brainard was named the department's top official for international affairs, and Stuart Levey will remain as its top counter-terrorism official, the administration said. The appointments would round out three of the top four positions at Treasury.
In the face of a communications vacuum, the Obama administration has come to rely on the president as its principal economic spokesman. Obama is turning up everywhere. Last week, he talked about the AIG bonus scandal on "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" in between quips about the search for a family dog.
On Sunday the president was on TV again, discussing the financial system with Steve Kroft of CBS' "60 Minutes." And Obama is to give a prime time news conference tonight in which the economy is certain to be a central focus.
Treasury officials declined to comment for this article. The White House did not return calls for comment. But the Treasury Department provided a document containing more than two dozen bulleted items illustrating Geithner's workload and summarizing his media appearances.
This week, Geithner appears to be limiting his media time to more business-oriented forums, such as his interview Monday with CNBC's Erin Burnett. He testifies today before a House committee on the AIG bailout, but that appearance will quickly be overshadowed when Obama holds his news conference later in the day.
Experts on the economy credit Obama for being an effective advocate for his policies. He has frequently managed to explain the complex roots of the financial meltdown in everyday terms.
Describing the AIG collapse on the "Tonight Show," for example, he said: "Then they decided -- some smart person decided -- let's put a hedge fund on top of the insurance company."
But economists add that no president can do it alone.
"We can't rely on the president exclusively," Rivlin said. "You can't have the president talk about the economy all the time. He's got to talk about Afghanistan and other things. You can't overuse the president."
