As the global financial crisis deepens, the newly elected Obama administration faces the daunting task of stabilizing a crumbling banking system. With the economy in freefall and public anger mounting, the president must navigate the complex and often conflicting advice of his economic team, including Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and chief economic advisor Larry Summers. The administration's response, centered on the controversial stress tests, becomes a high-stakes gamble to restore confidence in the nation's largest financial institutions while managing the political fallout of bailing out the very banks that many blame for the economic turmoil.