Cometh the hour, cometh the man.

I was struck when watching Barack Obama’s first media conference as president-elect last week to spot, among the group of economic bigwigs standing behind him, Dick Parsons, the chairman of Time Warner.

Hold on a minute, I thought, you’re a Republican. Perhaps that is actually a plus point for a president who wants a non-partisan balance in his appointments. Anyway, it showed Mr Parsons’ smooth ability to navigate the worlds of business and politics.

Now comes news (promptly denied by Citigroup) that Mr Parsons may become chairman of the bank if some directors have their way. According to the Wall Street Journal this morning, they want to replace Sir Win Bischoff at the helm of Citi, perhaps with Mr Parsons.

It seems to me that Mr Parsons prospers at times of crisis because that brings to the fore his particular talents. He is a calming, avuncular influence on organisations that are going through turmoil and are uncertain about their future.

This was his role at Time Warner when he became chairman and chief executive after its merger with America Online. Once he had steadied the ship, shareholders including Carl Icahn started to have doubts about whether he was also the right man to expand the company.

Now he has handed over the chief executive’s role at Time Warner to Jeff Bewkes, there has been a lot of speculation about what he will do next. One possibility seemed to be to run for mayor of New York City, but Michael Bloomberg’s decision to seek a third term blocks that.

There seem to be many alternative possibilities for Mr Parsons, ranging from a role in the Obama administration to the chairmanship of Citigroup. We are in a big economic crisis and there are few people whose presence feels so reassuring.

November 13, 2008 5:34pm in Finance, Media | Comment