Not Socialist Enough
Nobel Economics Laureate Krugman at NYT re Europe, about which he frets. He is disappointed that Congress and Obama didn’t drive up the deficit three times higher, and Europe has failed to meet even our current paltry standard for agenda-pushing porkulus. No worries, Krugman, they’re switching to a new system over there, anyway. European Umma.
Meanwhile, NYT reports the Obama admin’s worried about a populist bailout backlash. They’re blaming it on … you got it … the policies of the past.
“We’ve got enormous problems that need to be addressed,” David Axelrod, Mr. Obama’s senior adviser, said in an interview. “And it’s hard to address because there’s a lot of anger about the irresponsibility that led us to this point.”
“This has been welling up for a long time,” he said.
I thought that anger had already expressed itself. Hope, change, etc.
“Never underestimate the capacity of angry populism in times of economic stress,” said Robert Reich, a professor of public policy at the University of California, Berkeley, and labor secretary under President Bill Clinton. “A big challenge for President Obama will be to maintain a rational and tactical public discussion in the midst of this severe downturn. The desire for culprits at times like this is strong.”
No kidding. That fish already is rotting at the head. Article goes on to explain they hope to address the populist backlash by attacking the wealthy, also, by having it both ways.
Mr. Obama’s advisers argued that to at least some extent, this was a sentiment they could tap to push through his measures in Congress, including raising taxes on the wealthy. They pointed out that in his speech to Congress, Mr. Obama denounced corporations that “use taxpayer money to pad their paychecks or buy fancy drapes or disappear on a private jet.”
Here’s a fun game. Swap “Congress” and “corporations” in that last sentence. Ha ha, just kidding.
“The president has been very clear about this,” Mr. Axelrod said. “There is reason for anger, but we also have to solve the problem. We need a functioning credit system. That’s our responsibility, and he intends to meet it.”
Still, aides acknowledged the risks of a backlash as Mr. Obama tries to signal that he shares American anger but pushes for more bail-out money for banks and Wall Street.
For all his political skills and his capturing of the nation’s desire for change in the 2008 election, Mr. Obama, a product of Harvard Law School who calls upscale Hyde Park in Chicago home, has shown little inclination to strike a more populist tone. The danger, aides said, is that if he were to become identified as an advocate for the banks and Wall Street, people could take out their anger on him.
“The change now is you have a free-floating economic anxiety that has expressed itself in a kind of lashing out at those being bailed out and people who are bailing out,” Michael Kazin, a professor at Georgetown University who has written extensively on populism. “There’s not really a sense of what the solution is.”
“I do think there’s a potential for a ‘damn everybody in power’ kind of sentiment,” Mr. Kazin said.
And there’s the trick. How does Obama continue to convince everyone he’s not responsible, while remaining in power?
One thing about the above article. It seems to be choosing its populist backlash. It’s a clueless, kneejerk backlash that doesn’t really oppose Obama policies, it just doesn’t understand them and is reacting to periodic glimpses at some regrettable sausage-making. That’s the only explanation I have for why NYT avoids any mention of this elephant-in-the-room populist backlash:
Reynolds, “Things you might have missed this weekend if you were out, you know, having a life” … or talking to Obamists about backlashes.
Uh oh. Hot Air: Competence doubts.
Malkin, Thousands Converge for Cincinnati Tea Party. Populist backlash? No duh!
Powerline, Tea Parties Growing.
Non NYT-approved populist backlash roundup at Gateway.
Here’s the top results for an NYT site search on “Cincinnati” this morning, by the way:
Big East Tournament - DePaul and St. John’s Prove They Belong …
First 16th-place DePaul, 0-18 in the conference’s regular season, defeated ninth -seeded Cincinnati in the Tuesday’s opener. As an encore, 13th-seeded St. …
Cincinnati
The ”Queen of the West,” as Cincinnati came to be called, was throughout the 19th century a proud bastion of river commerce and culture, a lively, …
Music - Cincinnati Rallies to Rock Its R&B Cradle
A city exalts a record label that was a home to Charlie Feathers, Nina Simone and James Brown.
WHAT’S DOING IN; Cincinnati
In Cincinnati, the menace is the summer humidity. Which somehow puts Cincinnatians in mind of a good bowl of chili — ”three
OK, zero in a little. NYT site search results on “Cincinnati Tea Party.”
Society of the Cincinnati’s Tea.
The Society of the Cincinnati will give a reception and tea on Thursday … Brooklyn, celebrated their golden wedding yesterday with a dinner party, …
G’day, Instapundit, always good to see you. You know there’s no such thing as accidents, right? To include guerrillas and Australia’s status as a moral force in the world.
Topics: America, Europe, money
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 7:37 am on Monday, March 16, 2009
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March 16th, 2009 at 12:27 pm
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