Geithner: Warren "excellent" consumer agency pick

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner is dismissing reports of discord with TARP watchdog Elizabeth Warren - and says she'd be the logical choice to run the newly formed consumer oversight panel created by the financial overhaul bill.

"She is a enormously effective advocate for reform," Geithner told Jake Tapper in an interview aired Sunday on ABC's "This Week." She's "probably the most effective advocate for reform for consumers for consumer protection in the country. She has huge credibility and she played a decisive role in helping make the public case for reform and she was early on this, way ahead of everybody else."

Asked if he were worried she would be too critical of his own performance, Geithner said, "I don't have concerns."

He added: "And even before that she was pointing out to people the risks of what's happening in the housing market and credit market. So she has enormous credibility and she'd be an excellent leader of that institution. But that's a decision the President's going to make. "

Warren -- a pointed critic of the administration and Fed on the Troubled Asset Relief Program and the subsequent auto bailout -- seems to be gaining traction in the administration, with White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs offering similar praise last week.

Tapping Warren would be seen as a sop to liberals and labor groups who feel snubbed by Obama on other issues, including the public option for health care and the union card check, among other things.

Glenn Thrush is senior staff writer at Politico Magazine.