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Treasure
JaCbb Lew
nominated to
head Treasury
Department.
Jacob Lew confers with President Obama.
Washington (JTA)
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1797950
22
January 17 • 2013
JN
acob Lew helped Orthodox
observance reach the highest
precincts of governance. But
can a man that Republicans say "can't get
to yes" be confirmed as secretary of the
Treasury?
President Obama on Jan. 10 nomi-
nated Lew, his chief of staff, to the post
replacing Timothy Geithner.
Lew is well known in Washington
circles, but in some ways he is the polar
opposite of Joe Lieberman, the former
Connecticut senator and Democratic
vice presidential nominee whose exuber-
ant and public Jewish observance helped
pave the way for Lew.
Lew has been in public view much less
than Lieberman and has not aggressively
promoted his observance, although Lew
is happy to talk about how he balances it
with public service in relatively confined
Jewish settings.
He credits his bosses — Bill Clinton in
the 1990s, when Lew headed the Office
of Management and Budget (OMB), and
Obama, under whom Lew has headed
the OMB before becoming chief of staff
— for their understanding.
As a father who is at home and has
dinner with his girls, he values that
Shabbat is my time being with my
family," Lew told JTA in a pre-election
interview, when he was stumping for the
president. "I could not ask for someone
to be more respectful and supportive,
and that's the reason it works:'
Such deference, coupled with a studi-
ously low profile in Washington, has
helped smooth his relationships. Until
recently, Lew was a Washington rarity
— a person who enjoyed admiration on
both sides of the aisle.
That came to an abrupt end two years
ago when Lew, in his OMB capacity, led
the administratioris negotiations with
Congress to rein in the deficit. The talks
failed, and the GOP made Lew a bogey-
man, saying he was too ideological.
Washington Post reporter Bob
Woodward's book about the talks, The
Price of Politics, quoted Republicans as
describing Lew as "disrespectful" and
overly ideological in protecting entitle-
ments. Woodward quotes House Speaker
John Boehner (R-Ohio) as pleading with
the White House to pull back Lew, saying
he could not "get to yes:'
That reputation already has drawn a
pledge to block Lew's nomination even
before Obama formally announced it.
Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) said in a state-
ment that Lew "must never be secretary
of the Treasury:'
Those close to Lew inside and outside
the White House say he is a "mentsif
who frustrated Republicans with an
encyclopedic command of facts that
tended to undercut their arguments.
According to Woodward, Lew also was
soured by what he saw as Republican
disrespect for the president, particularly
when Boehner refused for a time to take
Obama's calls.
Lew is fiercely loyal to his boss, and
they enjoy a brotherly relationship,
White House insiders say, pointing to
Lew's omnipresence in official White
House photos.
Obama returns the loyalty, saying
at the nomination announcement that
he would regret seeing him go. He also
referred to Lew's faith and how it defines
him.
"Maybe most importantly, as the son
of a Polish immigrant, a man of deep
and devout faith, Jack knows that every
number on a page, every dollar we bud-
get, every decision we make has to be
an expression of who we wish to be as a
nation, our values," Obama said.
Tevi Troy, an observant Jew who was
deputy health secretary under President
George W. Bush and who debated Lew
during the election, said ideological dif-
ferences should not undercut a nominee
and that he hoped to see Lew confirmed.
"He is ideological and very committed
to entitlements without full recognition
of the fiscal challenges we face," he said.
Otherwise, Troy said, he was a fan of
Lew for raising the roof beams for obser-
vant Jews.
"I'm a fan of people who balance reli-
gious observance and high-level govern-
ment service," Troy said. "It's great that it
shows that Jews at whatever observance
level can serve at high levels of govern-
ments."
❑