I know that many mainstream publications, and sometimes Krugman himself, have painted Paul Krugman as this attack dog who is denouncing al of Barack Obama's policies. I have repeatedly explained and noted that the mainstream media has simply ignored the numerous times Krugman has generally agreed with Obama's approach, and has instead focused and exagerrated the areas of disagreement. Sadly, Paul Krugman himself has also sometimes used very theatric language in order to draw attention to his critiques, which of course overshadows the broad areas of AGREEMENT he has with Obama's policies.
So, here is another column show how Paul Krugman generally agrees with Obama. Now, watch how this column is ignored by DUers and the mainstream media the same way Krugman's general agreement with Obama on (1) the stimulus, (2) the mortgage plan, and (3) the budget are generally ignored.
If econonomic principles and self-interest do apply, then this could create a strong incentive for Paul Krugman to write even more scathing critiques of Obama, since Krugman's agreements with Obama are so quickly ignored by the press and liberals.
Do I think that several DUers have an anti-liberal/democrat agenda in choosing to focus and exagerate the areas of disagreement between the Obama administration and liberals? Yes, I do. There is a systamatic effort to exagerate differences, as the efforts by many folks to minimize or ignore the agreas of agreement between the Obama administration and liberals will demonstrate.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/30/opinion/30krugman.html?_r=1/snip
Like many other economists, I’ve been revisiting the Great Depression, looking for lessons that might help us avoid a repeat performance. And one thing that stands out from the history of the early 1930s is the extent to which the world’s response to crisis was crippled by the inability of the world’s major economies to cooperate. The details of our current crisis are very different, but the need for cooperation is no less. President Obama got it exactly right last week when he declared: “All of us are going to have to take steps in order to lift the economy. We don’t want a situation in which some countries are making extraordinary efforts and other countries aren’t.”
Yet that is exactly the situation we’re in. I don’t believe that even America’s economic efforts are adequate, but they’re far more than most other wealthy countries have been willing to undertake. And by rights this week’s G-20 summit ought to be an occasion for Mr. Obama to chide and chivy European leaders, in particular, into pulling their weight.
But these days foreign leaders are in no mood to be lectured by American officials, even when — as in this case — the Americans are right.
The financial crisis has had many costs. And one of those costs is the damage to America’s reputation, an asset we’ve lost just when we, and the world, need it most. /snip