‘Mission is not finished’ for outgoing Neel Kashkari

Noting that “Friday is probably his last day” at the Treasury for Kashkari,the Washington Post has quoted him saying that part of him finds it hard to leave “because the mission is not finished”.

He was named the interim assistant secretary for financial stability under President George Bush administration and was asked to continue on a temporary basis in the Obama regime.

For the last six months,Kashkari has been the public face of the US government’s financial bailout plan and the daily in a report published online said,”a sponge for congressional anger over the programme”.

According to the Washington Post,he scrambled to get the financial rescue programme going and often slept in his office and also worked seven days in a week.

“No question it was a trial … But I’m incredibly fortunate to serve at this important time in our history,no question about that. I also learned about myself,how to bring a team together and to get the team to perform under unbelievably trying circumstances,” the daily quoted him as saying about his time at the Treasury.

The former chief executive of mortgage lender Fannie Mae,Herbert M Allison Jr,who is awaiting confirmation,is to replace Kashkari.

Acknowledging that public relations was the issue that former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson’s team struggled most with,Kashkari was quoted as saying “in the fall,Treasury’s objective was to keep the financial system from collapsing”.

But the team failed to clearly explain how it was spending the money,the daily noted.

“Explaining our actions and our rationale is by far the hardest thing we’ve had to do because these programmes are so complicated … We definitely could have done that better,” Kashkari was quoted as saying.

The Washington Post noted that 35-year-old Kashkari leaves behind programmes that have intertwined the government more deeply with financial sector than perhaps ever before.

“… some of the Democrats who excoriated him during hearings acknowledge that Kashkari played a vital role in arresting a meltdown of the nation’s financial system,” it said.