Obama and His Wonks

[DeepModem Mom]

NYT: Obama and His Wonks
By Chris Suellentrop

The New Republic’s Noam Scheiber analyzes Barack Obama’s policy shop. “Sociologically, the Obamanauts have a lot in common with the last gang of Democratic outsiders to make a credible run at the White House,” Scheiber writes. “Like Bill Clinton in 1992, Obama’s campaign boasts a cadre of credentialed achievers.” He continues:

"Intellectually, however, the Obamanauts couldn’t be more different. Clinton delighted in surrounding himself with big-think public intellectuals — like economics commentator Robert Reich and political philosopher Bill Galston. You’d be hard-pressed to find a political philosopher in Obama’s inner wonk-dom. His is dominated by a group of first-rate economists, beginning with (the University of Chicago’s Austan) Goolsbee, one of the profession’s most respected tax experts."

The difference between Bill Clinton’s 1992 team and Obama’s is “the difference between science-fiction writers and engineers,” Scheiber says. “Reich and Galston are the kinds of people who’d sketch out the idea for time travel in a moment of inspiration. Goolsbee et al. could rig up the DeLorean that would actually get you back to 1955.”

(New Obama slogans: 1.21 gigawatts of change? The flux capacitor of hope?)

Obama may end up rejecting at least one of the central tenets of “Rubinomics,” Scheiber notes. He writes:

"A central tenet of the economic thinking favored by Bill Clinton and his Treasury secretary, Robert Rubin, was that cutting the deficit lowers long-term interest rates, which in turn stimulates the economy. The Obamanauts are perfectly willing to accept the relationship between long-term rates and economic growth. But recent evidence suggests that low rates weren’t quite as central to the success of the Clinton years as they appeared, and that investments in infrastructure and R&D might be as important as deficit reduction. Not surprisingly, Obama plans to focus less on the deficit than Clinton did."

Greg Mankiw, the Harvard economist who served as chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Bush, likes Obama’s team of wonks a lot more than he likes the candidate....

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/28/obama-and-his-wonks/index.html?hp

[C_U_L8R]

1. the name calling shredded the author's credibility

i guess they did have a real point to make

[Olney Blue]

2. This is a very interesting article- thanks for posting,

DM M! :hi:

[DeepModem Mom]

3. You're welcome! This could be a major shift for a new Dem administration. nt

[stellanoir]

4. I posted this a few times over the last week or so.

As a fanatic for Tudor history I keep being reminded of how Queen Elizabeth the first's leadership was so enhanced by the caliber of most of her advisors.

OTOH Mary Queen of Scots really was surrounded by duplicitous, conniving, power mongers. That lack of discernment cost Mary her head.

Just saying.

Thanks for this article DMM. You are the best.

K & R'd

[babylonsister]

5. Rec'd! His wonks are a huge part of why I'm so confident in

Obama and his team. What's not to like?! Thanks, Mom!

[Finishline42]

6. Great find, thanks. Full article the blog ref > New Republic

The blog references the full article in the New Republic:

http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=4d40a39e-8f57-4054-bd99-94bc9d19be1a "The Audacity of Data"

"Earlier this year, the Times' economics columnist, David Leonhardt, noted that Obama "tends to look at economic policy more like a foreign-policy realist looks at the world." One could argue that the same observation applies in reverse: Obama's foreign policy advisers tend to look at the world the way a behaviorist looks at economic policy."

Pragmatic sounds so much better than the idealogical stuff that the current admin is so stuck on.

Being President is one thing, but you have appoint 10,000 to help you govern. Those choices are critical. Obama seems to be making a lot of good choices so far.

[DeepModem Mom]

7. Thanks for this additional info, Finishline42 -- and welcome to DU!!!