Hmmm … who is Krugman talking about?
By SusanUnPC on February 23, 2008 at 1:14 AM in Barack Obama, Economy, Health Care, Hillary Clinton, Housing & Housing Crisis
From “Don’t Rerun That ’70s Show,” NYT op-ed columnist and economist Paul Krugman, February 22, 2008 — the conclusion:
[E]ven if the next president is a Democrat, any serious stimulus plan would face intense, ideologically motivated opposition in Congress. Will the next president be prepared to fight for an effective plan? Or will we end up with a compromise like the one Congressional Democrats agreed to this year, legislation that assuages conservative objections at the cost of undermining the plan’s effectiveness?
Until recently, I thought the biggest political struggle facing the next president was likely to be over health care reform. But right now it looks as if the first thing on the next administration’s plate will have to be dealing with a weak economy.
And if effective action isn’t forthcoming, the next president will suffer the fate of Jimmy Carter, who began his administration with words of uplift — “Let us create together a new national spirit of unity and trust” — and ended up delivering America into the hands of the hard right.
Could he be thinking about this candidate, whose first economic stimulus plan Krugman called “disreputable” and whose second plan the economist found “tilted to the right“? I know he’s not talking about this candidate:
Before i retire for the night, I’ll with you with these fun and inspiring items:
– The great Tennessee Guerilla Women blog vents about the post-debate coverage, including MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann reading directly from Obama campaign e-mail as if it was gospel!
– Radar Online having some fun with the Ben & Jerry’s endorsement of Obama in “BARACK’S FLAVOR NOT EVERYONE’S TASTE,” with some funny and some not-so-nice suggestions for names of the ice cream:
• “Chocolate Promise”
• “Cherries Messiah”
• “Commie Crunch”
• “Lefty Licorice”
• “Trotsky Ice-Picnic”
• “Mocha Fluff”
• “Ice Cream Dream”
• “Nihili-Vanilli”
• “Nut ‘n Substantial”
• “Chocful o’ Hopee”
• “Obamanana Split”
• “Marx Bar Crunch”
• “ChocoNilla Swirl”
• “Barracky Road”
• “NeoPolitician”Bonus! An honorable mention to a John McCain flavor idea: “Macadamia McCain… The purest white vanilla, with two of the largest nuts you’ve ever seen.
– The Daily Texan‘s endorsement of Hillary, “Time to Clean House“:
The youth vote, especially here in Texas, is extremely important to both candidates. As Texas, Austin and UT have all entered the limelight as major players in the nomination process, we have been confused by Obama’s relative absence from the home of such an important, excited and loyal constituency.
Clinton, while not as dazzling as her opponent, has asserted her presence to us. She has pledged to restore government support to college students by increasing the availability of Stafford Loans and Pell Grants. Her outline for a universal health care system is thorough and sound, while Obama unfairly exploits the resounding term “universal” in terms of his plan, which is voluntary and wouldn’t actually serve America in its entirety (like Social Security, policy can only be universal if it is mandatory). Furthermore, Clinton’s plans for Iraq ensure a gradual transition to stability for the Middle East.
Clinton’s abrasiveness, while somewhat off-putting, is essential in scrubbing our country clean of the grime the current administration has let build up. And by promising that the clean-up will begin in full effect on day one of her presidency, she’s proved to us over and over again that she’s ready, even excited, to get her hands dirty. Meanwhile, Obama’s curent focus is geared toward winning the nomination, and we need more than hope and rhetoric to be reassured that the critical transition to come with the next presidency will be handled safely. …
Who said the youth weren’t smart? Some are clearly also mature and using their brains, not their emotions!
– Last, there are more wise words from RonK Seattle, who’s been doing true investigative work into Obama’s quite conservative economic advisers — even his Social Security guy is pro-privatization. This installation is called “That Promising Young Fellow Barack Obama“:
From Obama’s debate intro Thursday night
“Senator Clinton mentioned Barbara Jordan, somebody who … said that what the American people want is very simple: They want an America that is as good as its promise. I’m running for president because I want to help America be as good as its promise.”
And I marvel at this, because I’d been thinking a lot lately about Obama’s promises, and a former Hooters waitress from Panama City Beach, Florida.
You may remember Jodee Berry, who was led to believe that the winner of her employer’s regional sales contest would be awarded a brand new Toyota! After hustling her hot-pants’d buns off and winning the contest, a breathless Ms. Berry was blindfolded, escorted to the parking lot, and presented with her brand new toy Yoda!
The disappointed waitress brought suit for breach of contract and fraudulent misrepresentation, eventually settling for an undisclosed sum, but one clearly sufficient to cover the price of any Toyota on the lot.
In this context, we review a curious set of instances in which Sen. Obama’s counterparties came to believe that something had been promised, but when those promises stood to be fulfilled the Senator’s position became … something else again. … READ ALL.
by Ronald Scott
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