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Paul Krugman on Obama: He Wasn’t The One We’ve Been Waiting For
Writing on his blog tonight, Paul Krugman said:
Health care reform - which is crucial for millions of Americans -
hangs in the balance. Progressives are desperately in need of
leadership; more specifically, House Democrats need to be told to pass
the Senate bill, which isn't what they wanted but is vastly better than
nothing. And what
we get from the great progressive hope, the man who was offering
hope and change, is this:
I would advise that we try to move quickly to coalesce around those elements of the package that people agree on. We know that we need insurance reform, that the health insurance companies are taking advantage of people. We know that we have to have some form of cost containment because if we don't, then our budgets are going to blow up and we know that small businesses are going to need help so that they can provide health insurance to their families. Those are the core, some of the core elements of, to this bill. Now I think there's some things in there that people don't like and legitimately don't like.
In short, "Run away, run away"!
Maybe House Democrats can pull this out, even with a gaping hole in White House leadership. Barney Frank seems to have thought better of his initial defeatism. But I have to say, I'm pretty close to giving up on Mr. Obama, who seems determined to confirm every doubt I and others ever had about whether he was ready to fight for what his supporters believed in.
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78 Comments so far
Show AllNot ready? How about a complete fraud and .........Oh, why bother.
"Obama: He Wasn’t The One We’ve Been Waiting For".
WE're the ones we're waiting for.
This article demonstrates one of the problems with Paul Krugman's texts: they are often really mild critiques of the Grinch. And that might be because his reports are filed from within Grinch headquarters. He's an Inner Court scribe.
This limits him to lukewarm criticism like "Obama is not the messiah," and spineless praise like "forcing people to buy private insurance is better than nothing."
Mild criticism/praise like this is *worse* than nothing at all. It acts like a written innoculation against any kind of real criticism that might lead to real change. Krugman is a celbrity/Nobel prize winner like Obama. His fame - and connections - displace other writers with less attachment to the workings of the Inner Court.
Good for Paul Krugman to give up on our militarist corporate Democrat president. I hope he goes one step further and suggests a primary challenge begin now to oust him from office in 2012 so we can get even a quasi-progressive in the White House instead of an eloquent conservative in a progressive-looking Trojan Horse.
odoco
Your suggestion of a primary challenge by a true progressive candidate will be the only chance the Dems will have to hold onto any type of power in DC in 2012. Is there such a person?
Primary challenge...Can you say Evan Bayh? Bayh will run against Obama...to Obama's right, or he will attempt to drag Obama toward the right and away from the left. Actually if Bayh does not run and the Blue Dogs try to drag Obama to the right a challenger from the left would have a better chance.
Remember that the corporate owned media have a far bigger say in what happens that either the democrats, the republicans or the people.
Where is Dr. Dean when we need him. He was the man on a mission and he had th balls to stand up and fight for progressive ideals. Why not run him against Obama in 2012? Let's do it right this time Howard Dean is the man, scream and all.
Ummm.....
Glenn Greenwald?
Time to draft him.
Fuck Krugman: "House Democrats need to be told to pass the Senate bill, which isn't what they wanted but is vastly better than nothing."
The Obamination that is the Senate's gross plan to indenture millions to the inscrewus industry is only good as toilet paper. The man is out of his mind to think it is "better than nothing."
How can you say you're "pretty close to giving up on Mr. Obama," when you support his piece-of-shit legislation? "Progressive hope"?!?! Are you drunk or something?
LOL...good post. Krugman and Obama are just trying to appease the masses. They got all the health care they need. They couldn't give a rat's ass less about the drooling masses.
"They got all the health care they need. They couldn't give a rat's ass less about the drooling masses."
So true. Add to that:
"They got all the money they need. They couldn't give a rat's ass less about the drooling masses."
"They got all the food they need. They couldn't give a rat's ass less about the drooling masses."
"They got all the shelter they need. They couldn't give a rat's ass less about the drooling masses."
"They got everthing they need. They couldn't give a rat's ass less about the drooling masses."
...until they NEED your vote.
As I pointed out in another thread, Krugman's whole history has been DLC shill. His role is to criticise and then say, with the appearance of utmost reluctance, that we must accept whatever we're offered.
He didn't get given the Establishment's pseudo-Nobel by accident.
Krugman's whole history has NOT been as a DLC shill. He is an economist and professor of economics. And the Nobel HE won, unlike the one "won" by Obama, was for his original and important work in a field of economics. It was peer-reviewed and awarded by the Swedish Academy of Arts and Sciences, unlike the Peace prize which is given by a Norwegian body and has almost always been highly politicized--at least in my lifetime.
I'm sorry, I'm just calling it as I see it. I hoped he was the person you think you see, but it was gradually borne in on me that he's not. If you go back and look at all his opinions, you soon get a picture of someone who's nothing at all like your handle's namesake.
It's really too late to come back to this, but my handle's namesake wasn't an academic or an economist, nor was he a 21st century American. He was a soldier, a Leveller, and he was assassinated in 1648 outside a pub I used to drink in, and his brother was John Winthrop's 4th wife. And what that has to do with Krugman I don't know, and there lies the problem.
I don't "think I see" any person in Krugman; I don't know or care about Krugman the person but I think he has informed and interesting things to say on the subject of economics, which is what the Times pays him to do and what interests me. My objection is to people on this site mistaking his job description and then faulting him for not living up to their expectations that he endorse their left-wing political positions when that isn't what he does or is supposed to do and almost certainly isn't interested in doing.
Obama is a total failure and fraud at all levels. He even puts the neo-cons to shame. They just passed another $9 billion for the lost Afghan war while 66 million US citizens have no basic health care. The deficit threshold has been increased by another 1.9 trillion.
Oh, poor Krugman talks like that when he's sulking.
Give him a day or two. Better yet, let Team Obama or the Congressional Democrats put forth a refried version of the old bait-and-switch, and Krugman will be right as rain in the time it takes to say, "It could be better, but it's OK by me!"
· Yr Obd't Servant
karlof1 - yeah, I'm flabergasted also.
NO BILL is better than the abomination that was about to be foisted on us, and the majority vote in Mas. yesterday got it right.
Things are going to start happening very quickly now and it is possible that many "experts" "political analysts" and even Nobel Prize winners will remember that they have a concience and that it should outrank their partisanship.
Not when you are on bent knee at the altar of the almighty dollar!
Krugman reveals his limits. The House should vote for the rancid Senate bill? As the excellent Dr. Margaret Flowers points out, what Congress is considering is worse in real terms, than doing nothing at all.
So, Krugman is incorrect on this issue.
In plain English.....it's a piece of $hit!
the senate bill is better than nothing. then, with that foot in the door, we improve it. i have a friend whose life depends on the answer.
for peace and sustainability
I agree... pass the Senate bill AND then use reconciliation to bring it closer to the House version or MUCH better- use reconciliation to produce a universal single payer alternative to both the Senate and House bills.
However, I would not support the Senate bill being rammed through the House IF reconciliation wasn't part of the bargain and IF through this process we would likely arrive at a much better bill. Given Obama's leadership to date on this and other issues- this outcome is very open to question.
I am totally baffled. Obama is now perceived as a weak leader in Washington. His leadership has been given virtually no respect from the Republican side of the aisle. They will not vote with him even if they agree with him- so as not to break party solidarity. Their political strategy is clear- it has only one objective: Defeat the President and restore a Republican majority. They do not have the best interests of Americans in mind. They are not voting with conviction- they are voting on purely partisan lines. If the situation was reversed- they would without hesitation break the filibuster rule and/or use reconciliation.
The Presidency should not be a popularity contest. If The President believes in universal coverage and only 40% of Americans agree with him- then that is what he should strive for. It is beyond imagination that a supposedly great nation does not see health care as a basic human right- after 50+ years of rankling and partisan divide. For once Obama needs to do what is right and not politically expedient.
Cicero: "Freedom is participation in power."
Earlier this evening I saw the Stephanpimpleous interview with Alfred O. Bama--the new What-Me-Worry Kid. He was grinning ear to ear like a Romulan stoned on codeine as if he'd just crapped his britches to annoy the male attendants in the looney bin. What a slither of fraidy-cat diarrhea he turned out to be.
What Krugman is observing here is long overdue but because of his minimal purchase in the MSM a lot of Dim apparatchiks are going to have to re-think their tip-toe through the tulips with DLC losers like Rahm "Lofty" Emmanuel. I'm sure even Hilary is having second thoughts about accepting a cabinet position from these limp tools.
METAL:
I needed a good laugh before going to bed....Metal ....you have a great sense of humor...good one liners.......Thanks
Hey...allright...didn't know any progressives really understood what Krugman was all about.
I knew he wasn't the shining saviour. Me, a guy who didn't finish college.
I don't know why so many intelligent people did.
"I think President Obama is perhaps the best illustration of an ally who cannot be counted upon, an ally whose rhetoric far exceeds his actions."
Stanford University professor Gary M. Segura
May I dedicate this song to Pres. OBAMA !!!
Sade Live - Smooth Operator
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ftl0k3C0ddo&NR=1
i blame the average american, not the president.
do you really think just electing someone to office is sufficient?
look at france, bolivia, venezuela.
people need to take to the streets.
non-violent, civil disobedience.
Look at Italy when Facism died. We don't need non-violent, civil disobedience. We need necks hanging from lamposts in DC.
Obama is what we used to call a Bullshit Artist. He's a totally empty suit who worse is wholly owned by Wall st. and is without any experience as a leader. Putting this used car salesmen at the top in retrospect was a disaster almost as massive as BV$H stealing the last two elections. This time though it was many of us that blinded ourselves to what this guy really was about.
Krugman states he supports the Senate bill which is a gift to the insurance industry (and worse than nothing). For him to support the Senate bill, you wonder how he interpreted the Massachusetts Senate results. If Massachusetts wanted the Senate bill, Coakley would have won so she could have voted for it. Massachusetts knew what was at stake. It wasn't a Republican that won. It was a Democrat that lost.
Paul "Shifty" Krugman at it again ...
He knows the Senate Bill is a crock, as do the people of Massachusetts. Coming out against Obama at this time is just political posturing. Krugman lost a lot of gravitas supporting this Health Bill ... remember Krugman for Single Payer? ... Now Obama is burying Krugman's victory ...
Obama has just vowed to go after the banks tonight ... Krugman and Obama will kiss and make up and they will play their Kabuki all over again ... Krugman will say some progressive things before he slides into business as usual, dragging his readership into more faux reform.
Thank you.
Reading Krugman criticize Obama made me think for a moment that I had stepped in a parallel universe where Kirk is evil and Spock has a goatee.
I must confess, I did not read the article. Paul Krugman has become irrelevant. He is just one more wishy washy "economist".
not only that, but he's still waiting on a savior.
The Deal making that went on to get the Senate Bill did not improve the bill. This is a good time to pass some of the changes agreed upon, (1) remove pre-existing conditions, (2)) place more emphasis on prevention etc., then deep six the Nevada Compromise, and all the other add-ons used to buy votes from renegade Senators grandstanding and profiteering. Take the baby step. We don't have the running room to make that "hop to the top". Get to work on the economy and put off a "Civil War". You don't think those lapses in our intelligence system were by accident do you? The real War is the one we are waging against each other.
And yes, we've got to do something about the leeches we call a banking system. These are big things, like in "principalities and wicked people in high places" big things.
..."Paul Krugman on Obama: He Wasn’t The One We’ve Been Waiting For"
We are the ones we've been waiting for.
Politicians are never saviors - at best they direct our attention, at worst they lull us into apathy or push us toward chaos. It is only We the People that actually choose our progression...
Live Simply So That Others May Simply Live
I don't understand the meaning of We the People. We have no power. Nobody is worried about what we're going to do. "We are the ones we've been waiting for" is getting to be a little cliché, and I don't understand what that means either. When will We the People be choosing our progression? How do We plan to do it? It looks to me like for the foreseeable future it's going to be We the Milk Cows. Here's where the power lies: Me the Individual. I can choose to make my life count for something besides the futility of trying to repair my hopelessly broken society. We've been inside the city limits of chaos for some time I think. It's interesting to watch, but it would be delusional to see ourselves as players. We are spectators to, and commentators upon, a grotesque and informative tragi-comedy. A Palin presidency would be just fine with me, as long as I don't run out of pretzels.
Health care reform - which is crucial for millions of Americans - hangs in the gallows of Big Pharma and Big Insurance.
Yes, O'Bomber is not the savior we have been awaiting. just another Corporate Dud that sold out the middle classes.
RIGHT-ON, matey! We need a new Captain, so let's mutiny. Run up the Jolly Roger, the Skull and Cross Bones and declare our independence from the overbearing masters and owners of our ship. They stole the ship from us, now we should steal it back. Obama has already walked the political plank, let us send the whole lofficers mess to Davy Jones Locker and select a new captain to set the ship on the correct course.
RIGHT-ON, matey! We need a new Captain, so let's mutiny. Run up the Jolly Roger, the Skull and Cross Bones and declare our independence from the overbearing masters and owners of our ship. They stole the ship from us, now we should steal it back. Obama has already walked the political plank, let us send the whole officers mess to Davy Jones Locker and select a new captain to set the ship on the correct course.
*** Comment deleted by site administrators for using all capital letters. ***
see: http://www.commondreams.org/comment-policy
Obama's only move is to the right. The people who own him won't allow anything else. Even if Obama appears to be moving left it will actually be to the right, a neat trick, but with devious scum like Rahm Emanuel at the helm it will be attempted even though everyone with two brain cells firing will be able to see through it. Then, at last, we will have transparency in government. The signature Obama moment of his first 12 months was his appearance on "60 Minutes" in which he said he was not elected to the presidency to be a flunky for fat cat bankers. Was there no one around his sycophancy who said, "You can't say that, Mr. President, because everyone knows that's exactly what you are - a flunky for fat cat bankers. If you say that you'll be mocked and scorned and generally look like a damn fool." But Obama went ahead and said it anyway. This is crucial to understanding Obama. His hubris, a cross between stupidity and arrogance, told him that all he has to do is say it and everyone will believe it . . . simply because I AM OBAMA. Obama believes his phony self, so brilliantly created in the campaign of '08. It even fooled Gore Vidal. April Fool's Day, however, is over.
Yeah, Mr. Krugman has probably never gone to a hospital in the hope of getting medical treatment and ended up in jail. Never suffered the humilitation many people face on a daily basis just to stay alive. You can literally die if all you are doing is reading this stuff.
This is what happens when we hire a constitutional lawyer to manage our affairs . He attempts to do it by the book . During the campaign the then Senator Obama in his speeches said he could not do it alone . He didn't know we would sit on our hands and complain and accuse rather than pitch in and help . We know he is surrounded by legions of skilled individuals that have molded a system to their benefit over many years and they have no intention of ever changing it or letting it be changed unless it benefits them more . Not only do they have the skills , they have the controls and resources . An astute electorate would target the controllers . The road blockers that resist giving the electorate what the electorate wants . Instead we target the man we hired to sign the bills designed and funded by the road blockers . And accuse him because the road blockers will not design what we want . Together we can get what we want now that we have a president that will sign the bill we want . We must let the rats know we know who they are .
The road blockers were put in place by your beloved agent of change. Clueless!
Yes, Paul. Right on.
Yes, let's get off our collective asses and make the changes we are looking for. The only way these changes are going to take place is if the people stand their ground and demand them. However, since the Amerikan people have been so dumbed down some of them actually think that the likes of the Republicans and Democrats are the answer….I say if ya all like what you have been getting, just keep supporting the bums who are keeping you down. That includes the Democrats that are too friggin comfortable. What in the hell do they have to worry about?
They have jobs that pay well. Moreover, those “little” side earnings taken from the lobbyists must make life just peachy for a public servant. They have healthcare for themselves and their families. They are not worried about losing their homes. Life is good for the rich and powerful. We are just after thoughts. They can work at their own speed they have nothing on the line.
What kind of a nation are we really. Every other civilized country in the world realizes that if it takes care of its people that the nation becomes more stable. A stable country is a peaceful and prosperous country. I have this big question. Why do the politicians of this country keep refusing to give to its people the goods and services for which their taxes have been allocated? Du’oh ! My bad ….where in the hell do our taxes go?
Oops! Sorry…it is more important to fight a war on innocent people, kill them, and then take their resources and make sure the Banksters get their bonuses and the Credit card ganstas keep their obscene and unlawful usury fees going. Moreover, make sure the mortgage companies never get relief to those caught up in the miasma of paperwork that does not really exist.
Oh, there are so many ways to make the rich richer and keep your job in Congress while we weenies out here in TV land just keep whining and mewing.