The Captain of the Street

While bailouts are regrettable and expensive, Paulson argues that one is needed to restore confidence in the system. "We're going to have housing issues and mortgage issues for years," he tells NEWSWEEK. "The key is to get stability." But unlike other recent actions, this one will require greater cooperation from Congress. And there Paulson is likely to run into some roadblocks.

Paulson works at a pace to which Washington isn't quite accustomed. All month the staff dining room at Treasury has remained open on weekends, with a buffet of tuna-fish and peanut-butter sandwiches. Paulson doesn't use e-mail and prefers to get information by phone. Staffers refer to him as a "serial dialer." But he doesn't spend a lot of time making small talk. "He's a no-bulls––t kind of guy," says Barney Frank. "He gets down to business and gets things done."

This brusqueness, and the desire to move on to the next problem, doesn't always go over well on Capitol Hill. The criticism of Paulson has come mostly from conservative Republicans in the House who are incensed over the bailouts. "I think for all intents and purposes, Congress has been left out of the loop and treated after the fact," says Rep. Scott Garrett, a New Jersey Republican. Having already acquiesced to the creation of hundreds of billions of dollars in potential taxpayer obligations, Congress isn't likely to just hand over hundreds of billions more without demanding some concessions like assistance for strapped homeowners.

The decisions made on the fly these past several months will have impacts that last deep into the next administration, long after the end of Paulson's tenure—perhaps one of the most eventful of any Treasury secretary since Alexander Hamilton. To add to his burden, Paulson has been tasked with briefing Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama on the situation. Late last Thursday evening, as Obama was about to fly from New Mexico to Florida, he held his plane on the tarmac for 10 minutes to hear the latest from Paulson, just one of many recent conversations. McCain and Paulson have also spoken on several occasions.

The Treasury secretary, who repeatedly describes the bailouts as "unpleasant" but necessary, knows that the United States will now be the international butt of jokes for nationalizing huge chunks of its once vaunted financial system. But as the Wall Street saying goes, it is what it is. At the end of the Street's craziest week in recent memory, Paulson was still working the phones and facing another ruined weekend, in which he and congressional leaders would iron out the details of the bailout plan. "Like every other weekend, we'll just be working hard doing what we need to do," Paulson said. For all our sakes, let's hope there won't be many more marathon weekends in the months ahead.

With Ashley Harris in New York, Richard Wolffe in New Mexico and Daniel Stone and Jessica Ramirez in Washington

© 2008