Every time it seems Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner is about to step down, rumors that Jamie Dimon may take his place gain traction.
But the JPMorgan Chase & Co. chairman and CEO attempted to head off such speculation once and for all this week when he declared he would be a poor fit for the job, while also saying he was "thrilled" Geithner was staying put.
"If you know me at all, and you know me a little bit," Dimon said in an interview on CNBC, "I'm not suited to politics. You guys should stop asking that question. I know it and you know it."
The only problem? While saying he wasn't suited to politics, Dimon sounded a lot like a politician.
For starters, the answer was somewhat ironic given that Dimon gave it while on a bus tour of Chase branches on the West Coast. Bus tours are often used by politicians hoping to gain grassroots attention.
But when CNBC pointed this out, saying it "seems like you are running for office," Dimon waved it away.
"It is a magnificent thing to do," he said. "We do it all the time, just never done it on the bus. We go a little bit off the beaten path as opposed to major cities."
But Dimon also sounded like a politician when he cited fears that the Dodd-Frank Act will hurt the economy. Instead of just raising complaints for his own bank, Dimon argued the law would destroy community banks, referring to it at one point as "Dodd-Frankenstein."
"Here I am, a big bank CEO, but I'm telling you, I think a lot of this regulation will hurt small banks," Dimon said. "I don't want to hurt small banks. I want them to succeed."
Further, when pressed about market upheaval, Dimon offered this answer, which sounds suspiciously like someone running for office: "I would say to the American people in total. … This nation is still the greatest nation on the planet. It was the first democracy on the planet. We have the best military. God bless our veterans all around the world - those who have served and those who are serving today. We have the best universities and best businesses on the planet."
Who says Dimon is bad at politics?
