Paul Krugman doesn’t know much about economics, but he had a good column on political messaging today – specifically, the talking point that President Obama should have focused more on the economy in the first two years:
After all, are people who say that Mr. Obama should have focused on the economy saying that he should have pursued a bigger stimulus package? Are they saying that he should have taken a tougher line with the banks? If not, what are they saying? That he should have walked around with furrowed brow muttering, “I’m focused, I’m focused”?
Sure, Krugman predictably goes on to crow that his calls for bigger stimulus and economic recovery programs that spent more borrowed money and placed government fingers on the scales of economic markets, but at least he combines his criticism with an alternative.
In some ways, this is the same message Republicans are now trying to deliver, post-campaign – that it wasn’t a lack of focus or messaging that lost the recent mid-terms for the Democrats, but the content of the policies the Democrats championed for two years.
Jim Eltringham 