Paul Krugman's piece today is already being derided by some vocal Obama supporters, as it makes the real world argument that any Democratic President will be attacked by the GOP. Although that may sound like a given to those of us here in the grown-up wing of the Democratic Party, to the post-partisan hopedacious crowd this is new to them.
What a hoot.
Krugman, being the realist that he is, feels that the best way to weather these attacks is through a well-formulated platform of detailed policies (and not half-baked compromises right out of the box):
"...I have colleagues who tell me that Mr. Obama's rejection of health insurance mandates -- which are an essential element of any workable plan for universal coverage -- doesn't really matter, because by the time health care reform gets through Congress it will be very different from the president's initial proposal anyway. But this misses the lesson of the Clinton failure: if the next president doesn't arrive with a plan that is broadly workable in outline, by the time the thing gets fixed the window of opportunity may well have passed..."
link: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/28/opinion/28krugman.html?_r=1&ref=opinion&oref=slogin
And although Krugman observes that this primary season has gotten "terribly off track" due to the politics of personalities and celebrity, he does have kind words for the one candidate who has tried to make his campaign about the things that actually affect all of our bottom lines:
"...What the Democrats should do is get back to talking about issues -- a focus on issues has been the great contribution of John Edwards to this campaign -- and about who is best prepared to push their agenda forward..."
Will Americans wake up in enough time to realize that the politics of personality does nothing to help themselves or their families?
I don't know. But I have Hope.
2 comments:
Thank you for this article. It has been difficult for John Edwards
to get credit for his message, so much of it has been pilaged by other candidates, but none more than Barack Obama. Even if it turns out that Mr. Edwards is not the nominee, we can be grateful that his platform has driven this election and his stand on the issues have kept the needs of the
American people on the front line of this election. I sincerely hope that he wins this race to the White House, for his message was
formulated in his heart and he will fulfill his campaign promises, not like others who are using it to win votes!
Thank god Krugman is standing up
for the little guy. Used to be that was in vogue for reporters.. now it's not. Yet print media is teetering on verge of collapse seemingly at points because people more and more are getting their information freely (or much more cheaply, or intelligently, FROM THE INTERNET). They widely complain about this problem, this 'loss of revenue' or however they view it. But with my Kindle or one of the various e-books out there, this new e-ink technology once it becomes cheaper may make books obsolete entirely.. paper.. written
words.. THINK about it.. why cut down a tree and send it to a mill to be processed then to another place to be turned into paper then to another place to be dyed
a certain color or what then to a place to have words put on it and bound and so on (no offense to mill people, or truckers or what have you) but THIS is WASTEFUL!! I am not expecting the world to change overnight but deforesting the planet so we can learn about Brittney or not is wasteful and we could do better.
I am an Edwards supporter but I think business needs to regain it's competitive smart edge to compete in business today and crony capitalism just isn't cutting it anymore. Critical infrastructure is crumbling. We need a man who is willing to make the unpopular choice (like not taking corporate funds or hiring PAC's on to your staff, etc.). We don't need another go along to get along pay to play politician. We will lose I think as Democrats in the election if we try to.
I think print media knows this
is scared .. needs to adjust and
join our cause or risk irrelevance..
to borrow a Bushism.. (sorry, guys).
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