If Ron Suskind has it right in his new book, President Obama’s top advisers “systematically undermined” President Obama’s authority, and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, in particular, ignored an order from Obama to consider restructuring Citigroup during the financial crisis. 

If true, it wouldn’t have been the last time that Geithner went around the law to exert power. But this is the first time it’s been reported that Geithner infringed on the authority of the president, as opposed to the legislature or the courts. 

When Gen. Stanley McChrystal made public comments that bordered on insubordination, Obama quickly made the right call and demanded his resignation. If Suskind’s reporting on Geithner holds up, maybe it’s time for Obama to end Geithner’s already overlong tenure at Treasury.