A Concise Overview of the Obama Administration

Paul Krugman has the ability to size things up, to cut things down to size, and to put them in perspective. Here's his NY Times blog posting on the State of the Union speech:

Pretending To Be Stupid

When people ask me what I think of the Obama administration, I have a stock answer: they’re not stupid and they’re not evil, which represents a vast improvement.

I stand by that position. But it’s sad that they apparently feel the need to pretend to be stupid:

[F]amilies across the country are tightening their belts and making tough decisions. The federal government should do the same. (Applause.) So tonight, I’m proposing specific steps to pay for the trillion dollars that it took to rescue the economy last year.

Starting in 2011, we are prepared to freeze government spending for three years. (Applause.) Spending related to our national security, Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security will not be affected. But all other discretionary government programs will. Like any cash-strapped family, we will work within a budget to invest in what we need and sacrifice what we don’t. And if I have to enforce this discipline by veto, I will. (Applause.)

This is exactly — exactly — what John Boehner said last year:

Boehner said Americans want government to practice the same financial restraint they have been forced to exercise: “It’s time for government to tighten their belts and show the American people that we ‘get’ it.”

It was stupid then, and it’s stupid now.

The saving grace, such as it is, is that administration officials know better; they’re well aware that the spending freeze will make no difference to the long-run budget outlook. This is just a sop to public prejudices and/or centrist Democrats in the Senate.

But it’s a spectacular demonstration of Obama’s failure to change the narrative. Not only is he accepting the general Republican world view, he’s parroting their dumb attacks on his own policies.

A year ago I was nearly ecstatic with Obama taking office. I'm still relieved that he's in office and not a Republican. But I'm deeply saddened that he has failed the American people. He had a chance to be a great president in an hour of great need. He has accomplished little. So at best he will be seen as a modest President who at least didn't make things worse under his tenure. And hopefully his tenure will be limited to one term with a better Democrat stepping in from the wings to lift high the torch and lead the people to a better future. (But I know that American presidents are not easily displaced so the most likely outcome is that either he is re-elected for another relatively mediocre term, or far worse, another nutcase Republican comes in to finish the devastation that Bush the Second so ably started.)

Krugman has nailed Obama when he points out that Obama is now trafficking the idiotic Republican Party line about "government spending is like your family budget". That's like saying that the US military is like your neighborhood Cub Scouts. Yep... all those wonderful skills of hiking in the words and sitting around a campfire, singing songs, learning skills to win merit badges. Don't you worry, nuclear weapons and bloody assaults are just another Cub Scout activity with their own merit badges. It's all the same. Nothing different. Everybody knows that Cub Scouts learn bloodthirsty techniques to kill so they can defend their parents home. Because everybody knows that Cubs Scouts are "just like" the military.

The Republicans have never understood the role of government. It does social good that no individual can do: military, infrastructure, public services. And when it comes to the economy, a key role of government during a financial panic is to step in and secure the financial system. A key role during a depression is to step in and act as a buyer of "last resort" to limit the damage to the underlying economy. The Republicans don't understand these things. That's why George Bush's administration set up the American people for the worst recession since the Great Depression.