Paul Krugman for Treasury Secretary...before it's too late

[MinM]

Is there a Nobel Prize for common sense? Paul Krugman is doing President Obama's job for him, telling America that the bipartisan congressional stimulus plan is too little, too late...

http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/attytood/Paul_Krugman_for_Treasury_Secretarybefore_its_too_late.html

[ErinBerin84]

1. that would be nice

But,I believe Krugman when he says that he didn't want the job.

[Barack_America]

2. Yeah. I don't really understand the whole Krugman cult of personality thing.

He's a brilliant economist to be sure, but he has no political savvy whatsoever. If he's a use to this administration, it's from afar.

(dons flamesuit for criticizing one of DU's favorite heroes)

[Hello_Kitty]

3. And it's funny how many of the DU members in the Krugman cult

Accuse supporters of Obama of being "cultists".

I mostly stayed out of DU during the primaries and I really hate seeing them dredged up again and again. Krugman threads seem to bring it out. He's like a proxy for them.

[Two Americas]

19. that is false and malicious

The people supporting what Krugman is saying have always supported those ideas, and it has nothing to do with Obama. Hinting that they have a hidden agenda or evil motives is just a smear and an attack on the messengers to distract people away from the message.

What Krugman is saying has nothing to do with the primaries, and the only people dredging up the primaries are those who supported Obama all along and see everything only in those all-or-nothing for-us-or-against-us terms. They are projecting that drama onto everything.

[ErinBerin84]

4. true

and I LIKE Krugman a lot most of the time...he makes some valid points. But the Krugman worship does get a bit, um, strange sometimes. Obama's not immune to criticism that's valid, and neither is Krugman.

[yurbud]

10. great use of GOP propaganda tactic. If we prefer anyone other than business owned whore

we are practicing a personality cult not choosing someone who we trust more graded on a curve to look out for our interests.

Is the White House trapped in the ''cult of personality'' because Obama picked Rahm Emanuel for chief of staff and DLC corporate hacks for most of his cabinet? I wouldn't say so. I'd say he made some choices I think are wrong, but if he is a man of good conscience, he'll correct that eventually.

[Two Americas]

16. yes

The right wingers have perfected this debate tactic, and it is disappointing and alarming to see Democrats using it against each other. Accusing your adversary of doing exactly what you yourself are doing is a tactic the right wingers always use, because it causes so much disruption and confusion that no intelligent discussion can proceed.

If someone tries to talk about racism, they are accused of "reverse racism." If anyone tries to talk about abuse of GLBTQ people, they are accused of "hating straight people." If anyone tries to discuss sexism, they are accused of "hating men." If anyone tries to talk about the plight of poor people and the have-nots, they are accused of "fomenting class warfare."

Here, when people object to the ongoing pervasive and aggressive effort at suppressing dissent, they are themselves accused of trying to suppress freedom of speech. When someone objects to being told to shut up, they are accused of trying to tell people to shut up. "You are telling me to shut up when you object to me telling you to shut up." This gets absurd - "how dare you accuse me of accusing you of accusing me?" Total confusion is the goal, so that simple-minded tlaking points can be used to bully others into submission.

All during the Bush administration, if you wanted to know what they were up to all you needed to do was listen to what they were accusing others of doing. The same method will reliably tell us what the people here who are trying to suppress dissent are up to by listening to what they are accusing others of doing.

They do not like being told they are engaging in cult-like hero worship, so they come up with the clever idea - exactly the same way that the right wingers do - of merely turning the accusation around and applying it to their adversaries, and then mindlessly repeating it over and over again. This has nothing to do with which "side" people are on on any particular feud. We should all object to these tactics, regardless of the cause they are employed in, because of destruction they do to the political discussion. That destruction of the political discussion can only aid the right wing.

We have people here who are dancing the same dance to the same music as the most zealous Bush supporters were, and who want us to believe that merely because they are singing different lyrics that it is not the same sort of mindless demand for compliance, passivity and silence that the Bush zealots were demanding.

"America love it or leave it, and don't criticize our president or you are a traitor" has become "the Democratic party love it or leave it, and don't criticize our president or you are a traitor." Same tune - new lyrics.

[Alcibiades]

22. This is a neoconservative tactic

Also popular among Trotskyists and ex-Trotskyists. I wouldn't write about it so much--it's a bit of a tell.

[yurbud]

11. you know, you should tell your PR firm to make up different talking points for progressive sites

it's really annoying when you use the same ones on us that you give to MSM and conservative pundits, like we won't notice.

And in case you haven't noticed, they don't work here.

You guys inundate us with slick, empty catchphrases, rarely back up anything with sources, studies, stats, or even actual arguments, and when challenged, you just keep repeating your idiotic catchphrases.

[Two Americas]

17. the battle of the talking points

There is no such thing as "our talking points," since it is the battle of talking points itself that advances the right wing agenda, regardless of which talking points "win."

The use of talking points is bullying, and bullying prevents intelligent consideration and discussion, and the absence of any thoughtful consideration or discussion is what the right wingers seek. It is the only way they can prevail.

We are trying to get the truth out to the people. We don't need talking points. We don't need to restrict nor fear a free and open discussion. A free and open discussion will always hurt the right wing and will never hurt us.

[Larkspur]

12. Krugman was speaking out against Bush and the Repukes long before Obama

ever thought about running for President.

Krugman is a hero because in the early part of our darkest days -- Bush Admin era -- Krugman had the guts to criticize Bush when most of his colleagues were kissing Bush's a@@. Krugman was a lone voice of sanity in a mad world and he still is a voice of sanity today.

Unlike the Cultists for Obama, Krugman serves the Truth not a demigod.

[Two Americas]

13. there is no "cult of personality"

I have seen absolutely no evidence of a "cult of personality" around Krugman.

This latest talking point - that he knows nothing about politics - what is that about?

It is the overly zealous Obama supporters, intolerant of anything that could be remotely seen as critical of the President, who are driving this entire drama.

Some serious projection going on here.

[QC]

20. Good lord. You are the last person on earth who should accuse anyone of personality cultism.

It's like Dean Martin calling somebody a drunk.

[stillcool]

5. And yet Krugman doesn't want the job...

amazingly he likes what he does. Especially now that he's got an audience, and can actually affect public opinion. What is he crazy?

[Barack_America]

6. People here don't seem to understand that joining the administration equals...

...zipping one's mouth when it comes to dissent.

Why anyone would think that Krugman is a good fit for the administration is beyond me.

[stillcool]

7. Maybe they want to shut him up?

[Barack_America]

9. Nah. Most seem to be fans who feel he's "earned" a spot in the administration. nt

[Two Americas]

14. utter nonsense

This is so deceptive and dishonest. All that people have done was to post Krugman's thoughts on the economy. A handful of people, who look at politics as though it were a sports contest or a movie they are watching, or perhaps their favorite comic book since it is about on that intellectual level, and who demand that all get in line and cheer on the team and the hero, are completely intolerant of anything other than blind loyalty. Krugman's remarks interfere with their fantasy, with their dramatic scenario about this and their need for some sort of vicarious emotional satisfaction about their designated hero.

This talking point strategy, this win at all costs mentality, coming up with anything that might help you "win" - throwing out charges of cult of personality and mocking any and all who have asked us to consider Krugman's remarks, is very destructive.

Under the guise of being "loyal" and "supporting" the new administration, what you are doing represents the greatest threat to the success of the new administration imaginable. That is why it is self-centered - you are placing your need to cheer lead and identify with a hero figure above what is beast for the country, the party and the new President.

You do the President a great disservice to "support" him the way that you are. I am going to start defending Obama from this threat. The country is facing a horrendous crisis. We cannot afford this petty hero worship nonsense, and it can only hurt the new administration.

You aren't "supporting" the President, you are using him. You are using him, and your professed loyalty to him, as an excuse to attack critics and dissenters, to attempt to break up discussion and create an uproar and confuse people, and to act out your own personal hostilities at the expense of the community and the discussion.

You are turning the President of the United States into a caricature, into a comic book hero, and debasing the discussion by making it into a shallow and narrow minded "for or against" adolescent schoolyard contest of bullies taunting and ridiculing each other. This is shamefully disrespectful of the very man you claim to be such a fan and defender of - you are demeaning the President, trivializing the office of the presidency, undermining the free and open discussion that is essential for a functioning representative democracy, and distracting everyone from the fore emergency we are facing.

Leave Obama alone, and let him do his job, and let the critics and commentators do their job. You are loving him to death - for your own selfish emotional needs - and misusing him in the service of a very destructive and suppressive cause.

[QC]

21. Amen! This cheerleading has gotten so damn old.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

8. krugman is an intellectual and not a politician. he couldnt do the job

and i like him where he is.

[Two Americas]

18. yep

It will take many people in many different roles making many different contributions.

[Triana]

15. Krugman doesn't want a post in the Obama admin and has said so - said

he feels he probably can do more as a private citizen rather than as part of Washington.