Timothy Noah has a modest proposal up at his blog: Nominate Barney Frank to replace Timothy Geithner.
In recognition of these achievements, I hereby nominate Frank for Secretary of the Treasury. Tim Geithner has already stayed in that job too long, and Frank could bring to the president's economic team the spark that's been missing from the beginning. The wingnuts would go bonkers, sure, but Frank is reasonably well-liked on Capitol Hill, he's a known quantity to Wall Street, and the Senate just might confirm him. I think it's worth a shot. Can you even imagine how great it would be to have a Treasury secretary with a sense of humor? I'm pretty sure we've never had one. I assume we've already had a gay Treasury secretary somewhere along the line, but Frank would be the first out-of-the-closet gay Treasury secretary, which would be something to celebrate. If not at Treasury, Frank should get a top cabinet post elsewhere in the Obama administration. You just don't let talent like this walk out the door.
My first reaction to this story was that Noah was out of his mind, this could never happen. Frank is too independent, too funny to be nominated, let alone confirmed.
But my second reaction is that the idea is brilliant: Frank truly is talented, a great communicator, knowledgeable about the topic, and genuinely funny.
Let's get behind this idea people, if nothing else, as a small tribute to a great man!