Tim Geithner certainly came under heavy fire at his confirmation hearing for his failure to pay self-employment taxes. He made plenty of apologies and offered up the explanation that he’d used a software program to prepare his taxes. (Everyone and their cousin will have an opinion as to whether the “I don’t recall getting prompted by the software” defense is going to help or hurt.) He denies taking advantage of the statute of limitations in 2006 to avoid paying up for the tax years 2001-2002, but it still seems inexplicable that even after being audited he would not have comprehended the full extent of his liability.

Will the Senate accept his apologies — with no further concern as to how someone so sophisticated could be so clueless about his own taxes? All Democrats will most likely ride to his rescue, citing the dire state of the economy. And Republicans? Perhaps they might consider, as Senator Jim Bunning did, whether  or not Geithner’s judgments have been so indispensable to the health of the economy. And moreover, they might want to take the President’s own call for a new “era of  responsibility” more seriously than the President’s own party is. This seems an ideal way of making the point that the rules apply to all.

After all, this was a day for ethics, as President Obama explained to his staff:

However long we are keepers of the public trust we should never forget that we are here as public servants and public service is a privilege.  It’s not about advantaging yourself.  It’s not about advancing your friends or your corporate clients.  It’s not about advancing an ideological agenda or the special interests of any organization.  Public service is, simply and absolutely, about advancing the interests of Americans.

The men and women in this room understand this, and that’s why you’re here.  All of you are committed to building a more responsible, more accountable government.  And part of what that means is making sure that we’re spending precious tax dollars wisely and cutting costs wherever possible.

Perhaps the Senate will take that sentiment to heart.