That guy from TV with the dollar sign suit wasn't available

It's long been rumored that John Snow wanted to ditch his post as Treasury Secretary-- but no one was willing to become his replacement. Does that mean Paulson is the fifteenth or sixteenth best man for the job? Or maybe the administration just has a draft agreement with Goldman Sachs.

Mr Snow, the former chief executive officer of CSX became Treasury Secretary in February 2003 following the forced exit of Paul O'Neill. Mr Snow, 66, traveled the country to promote Bush's efforts to cut taxes, win re-election and convince the public the economy was doing well.

Republicans said Mr Snow, whose future has been the subject of speculation since President Bush won re- election in 2004, wanted to leave the administration by the end of June.

Mr Paulson is the latest Goldmans executive to go to Washington. White House chief of staff Joshua Bolten worked at the firm in Europe and Robert Rubin, President Bill Clinton's longest-serving Treasury chief, was a former co-chairman of the bank.

What confidence-inspiring words did Bush have about his nominee?

He will work closely with the Congress to restrain the spending appetite of the federal government and keep us on track to meet our goal of cutting the deficit in half by 2009.

No, I didn't make that up. But I'm sure no reporters will point out that this comes from a man who has never vetoed a spending bill, and given us the largest debt in world history.

On the plus side, Paulson actually sounds much less hacky than the usual Bush appointees, and he's a staunch conservationist (link here, scroll down).

Goldman Sachs Chairman Henry M. Paulson Jr., not only endorses the Kyoto Protocol to limit greenhouse emissions, but argues that America's failure to enact Kyoto undermines the competitiveness of U.S. companies. Paulson serves as chairman of the board of directors for the Nature Conservancy, which has issued statements endorsing Kyoto...

How will that square with the president's claim that Kyoto would "wreck" the US economy?