Ya know, I am beginning to really like Commentary’s Jennifer Rubin. The lady clearly has a good head on her shoulders:

For starters, it’s never good when they laugh at you (”Administration officials were greeted with sarcasm and laughter Monday night when they briefed lawmakers and congressional staff on Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner’s new financial-sector bailout project, according to people who were in the room.”) (h/t Glenn Reynolds) Investors really hated the Geithner plan. And The Wall Street Journal set the tone for the chorus of howls: “Judging by the hissing in financial markets, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner’s opening act as Rescuer in Chief yesterday was a bomb.” Ouch.

Ouch, indeed. But the way Rubin sums up is perhaps the biggest ouch of all.

The Obama administration is teetering on the brink of a precipice. After such an impressive campaign the public may start to worry just how incompetent this crew is. Botched nominees, a less-than stellar stimulus plan, and now a bank bailout that landed like a thud. The Obama team has a very short window in which to get its act together. The markets, voters and Congress are watching — nervously.

That’s not an ouch for the Obama Administration, that’s a potential ouch for the entire country.