Steven Rattner, the "car czar" appointed by the Obama administration this past spring, is stepping down as head of the auto task force, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner announced this afternoon, in order to return to "private life." This can mean one of two things: Either Rattner and everyone else in the administration believe that his work with Chrysler and General Motors' bankruptcies is well and truly done, or the man has something worse than his wife's DWI, his involvement with the pension scandal, and Chooch in his closet. We feel cynical saying this, but we suspect it's the latter. It's a little soon to assume the auto industry can fly on its own, and something about the phrase "private life" and ensuing lack of comment from the White House is setting off our internal alarms.

Steven Rattner leaving autos task force [WP]