WSJ sets the bar low for Jack Lew

News broke yesterday that President Obama would nominate Jack Lew, his chief of staff, as treasury secretary today. Wasting no time, the Wall Street Journalpounced in its lead editorial this morning:

Mr. Lew's nomination will disappoint those (mostly naive CEOs) who were hoping for a second-term agenda more hospitable to business and private economic growth. Save for a stint in Robert Rubin's Citigroup, C -1.00% where Democrats go to monetize their political connections, and a few years as an academic, Mr. Lew is a Washington lifer whose expertise is politics. He brings no special knowledge or experience in economic policy, private industry or global finance. ...

[A]s budget director and chief of staff in the Obama White House, Mr. Lew has been the President's most partisan and implacable negotiator. ...

He's the man you pick if you expect months of political trench warfare over taxes and spending. He's the partisan you nominate if your overriding political goal is to destroy House Republicans in the midterm elections, not strike a deal with them. ...

Policies to grow the economy will be an afterthought.

For clarity's sake, WSJ does not support Lew for treasury secretary.