Paul Krugman reveals just how far he has gone in a totalitarian direction. Angus and I have long believed P-Kroog has sold out, but I at least have had the sense that there is some underlying part of his brain that still perceives some part of reality.
I am no longer sure. P-Kroog apparently believes that Obama does not, in fact, have enough midi-chlorians, and so (I'm not making this up) wrote a post called "He Wasn't The One We've Been Waiting For." Yes, he did. Russ Roberts gives the appropriate response, a combination of confused surprise and dispositive counterarguments. Will W also is incredulous, and rightly.
And he also wrote this unbelievable op-ed. I really thought that this was from the Onion at first. As my man Don B put it:
Polls show that health-care ‘reform’ of the sort the Senate passed is now overwhelmingly unpopular. Indeed, as Scott Brown’s victory makes clear, it’s unpopular even in Massachusetts – perhaps the most ‘Progressive’ state in the union. And the President and members of the House obviously believe these polls, otherwise they wouldn’t have so quickly run away from the Senate bill.
For Mr. Krugman nevertheless to insist that “the nation is waiting” for final legislative approval of this ‘reform’ reveals that Mr. Krugman’s arrogance has reached such Brobdingnagian proportions that he mistakes his own desires for those of the American public.
So, to Mr. Overwater: There IS such a thing as left-wing authoritarianism.
6 comments:
I think you're blowing this WAY out of proportion. The "we" to which he is referring is not "das Volk" or "the hidden essence of the American people." He makes it entire clear who he's referring to: "we" progressives, "we" supporters of Obama who expected more substantial change. It's (a) a strong criticism of the gap between Obama's rhetoric and the reality of the administration, and (b) a lament about the fact that Obama failed to cash in on the political capital of the early days of his administration. I think this post is entirely mundane and evinces nothing even remotely like authoritarianism. Yes, presidents have clout in Congress, which they often use to push through a particular legislative agenda. If that's authoritarianism then, well, that's not a useful concept for me anymore.
Paul Krugman stimulates a lot of reactions in the Austro-libertarian blogsphere. But the New York Times plays the major role which we should not overlook. There would be many less reactions to these silly views if the views were published – not in the New York Times – but only on a personal blog of Paul Krugman. If you agree, the messenger to be challenged is not Krugman so much as the New York Times. If that medium did not find Krugman for its purpose, it would seek and find some other academic economist.
Richard...the fact that the Times has found the Krazyugman for its purposes does not necessitate that they will continue to find Him for said purposes.
Craziness smells icky.
Luc, "we" is the median NYT reader--hence NYT's continued employment of K.
I don't get it. I was reading the whole article looking for some piece of Onionesque comic but it never came. We all know that Krugman wants health care reform and given that, his article is entirely sensible. He argues that the Senate bill is better than nothing, so it should be passed. Sure, you might disagree but from a progressive's view it makes total sense.
I grant you that sentence about the nation waiting is pushing it a bit, but please cut him a little slack. There's much more BS published on this and most other blogs every day.
left-wing authoritarianism? you're surprised? you should've accepted the job in seattle:
http://www.komonews.com/news/local/6007831.html
then you can check seattle's particular take on a smoking ban which prohibits smoking not just in public places but also w/in 25 feet of their doorways. 25 feet in a city? wtf.
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