While Bernanke said that he had decided to back the deal, he nevertheless wanted to take a straw poll among the participants in the call. He was clearly anxious, asking, “Are you sure we’re doing the right thing?” But with his implicit support—and Geithner’s insistence that this was the only way to avert a financial Armageddon—the vote was 5–0. There was no longer any discussion of moral hazard, and no talk of Lehman Brothers.
