Citi's Pandit Is an Expert, but Not in Banking

Do you want to know a secret? Do you promise not to tell?

When The Business Press Maven wants to slip some bad news by the Mrs., I calibrate the timing perfectly for right when our three children are at their noisiest, shouting to the skies and swinging like unruly, airborne monkeys from chandeliers.

Not that she doesn't notice the news I'm whispering quickly to her. It just, praised be the clatter, has a good deal less impact on her consciousness.

Which brings us to Citigroup(C Quote).

With the bank's future a gaping, infected, open question, the company's monthlong search for a CEO had degenerated into a joke. Considering the amount of money the bank were dangling and the fact that if anyone manages to turn Citigroup around, they'll be an instant icon, you'd figure someone would be game.

But as I pointed out only last Friday in my Five Dumbest Things column ("Just Saying No to Citibank" came in second, with a Dumb-o-Meter score of 75), Citi reportedly courted and was slapped down by everyone from the Deutsche Bank chief to Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, who thought the unfriendly confines of the Bush administration were preferable, which says all you need to know. On Tuesday, Citigroup finally found someone willing to take the top post, but the company doesn't seem enamored of the winner.