Confirmations of Barack Obama's Cabinet him "very, very competent" and "the right guy" for Secretary of the Treasury. On January 26, 2009, the U.S. Senate confirmed Geithner's appointment by a vote of 60–34. Geithner was sworn in as Treasury Secretary by Vice President Joe Biden and witnessed by President Obama. Geithner left the administration at the end of January 25, 2013. On January 10, 2013, Jacob Lew, then the President's Chief of Staff was nominated as the replacement for retiring Treasury Secretary Geithner, to serve in President Obama's second term. Lew's nomination was confirmed by the full Senate on Wednesday, February 27, 2013 by a
Robert S. Rivkin Vice President and Deputy General Counsel. He stayed in that position until 2009. Appointed by President Barack Obama, Rivkin was sworn in as the 21st General Counsel of the United States Department of Transportation (DOT) on May 18, 2009, following unanimous confirmation by the United States Senate. A longtime Obama supporter and contributor, Rivkin first met Obama in 1991. While with DOT, Rivkin was counsel to Secretary Ray LaHood and served as DOT's Chief Legal Officer, with authority to resolve all legal questions concerning the Department's policies and programs and its over 55,000 employees and $78 billion budget. In 2009,