Despite his son serving as treasury secretary for President Barack Obama, Peter Geithner voted for Mitt Romney in 2012.
That’s one of the revelations Tim Geithner makes in his new book, “Stress Test: Reflections on Financial Crisis.” (READ: Bill Clinton’s Graphic Advice To Tim Geithner During the Financial Crisis)
“I actually wasn’t that surprised by that,” the younger Geithner said of his father’s vote to put him out of a job in a video interview with Vox Media’s Ezra Klein. “But, you know, he’s sort of the classic moderate Republican. I think of him in that way. He voted for Obama in ‘08. But, you know, he’s a more conservative person by instinct, so it wasn’t that surprising to me in ’12.”
Asked by Klein why he couldn’t convince his father to go with Team Obama, Geithner said he “didn’t really try to talk him out of it.”
“I mean, first of all, you know, he has his convictions. I was doing my thing,” Geithner explained. “I didn’t really think it was my job to try to change his mind.”
Confirmed as treasury secretary soon after Obama took office in 2009, Geithner stepped down from his post in January 2013.
