Krugman on Obama

Might as well check out Krugman's as usual right-on-target column. He, also, says that now is the time for Obama to get together some fight and not concede anything to the conservatives.

The conservatives have been wrong on economics for a long time now. Their power was consolidated for many of the years when they controlled both houses of Congress during Bush's presidency. They got what they wanted -- tax cuts and de-regulation -- and failed. Economics may not be a science, but it doesn't take an Isaac Newton to recognize when a theory does not pass the test of experiment in the real world. Now they have regained a lot of power -- at least negative, program-killing power. What do they want? More tax cuts and deregulation and repeal of healthcare reform. They failed to destroy the economy first time around. Now they have another chance.

Jon Stewart made a good point the other night. Why would the Republicans want to offer up any sort of plan to help the economy? Suppose they do nothing. If the economy rebounds, they will claim that their recent control of the House led to the improvement. If the economy remains bad or tanks further, they will continue to blame healthcare reform and other Democratic programs. It has become clear that truth or reason have very little to do with who gets praised, blamed or elected these days (goodbye Russ Feingold).

Too bad we don't have a party willing to fight them. Nice that Obama is chatting them up.