KRUGMAN: All the President’s Zombies (of failed Reaganism)

[yurbud]

Another restatement of why so many of us are unsettled not just by Obama's business first approach to health care reform but doing the same in other areas like appointing a privatization scammer to be secretary or education.

All the President’s Zombies

By PAUL KRUGMAN

Published: August 23, 2009

The debate over the “public option” in health care has been dismaying in many ways. Perhaps the most depressing aspect for progressives, however, has been the extent to which opponents of greater choice in health care have gained traction — in Congress, if not with the broader public — simply by repeating, over and over again, that the public option would be, horrors, a government program.

Washington, it seems, is still ruled by Reaganism — by an ideology that says government intervention is always bad, and leaving the private sector to its own devices is always good.

Call me naïve, but I actually hoped that the failure of Reaganism in practice would kill it. It turns out, however, to be a zombie doctrine: even though it should be dead, it keeps on coming.

Let’s talk for a moment about why the age of Reagan should be over.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/24/opinion/24krugman.html?_r=1">FULL TEXT

[DebbieCDC]

1. Paul nails it again

Would someone please start sending his columns to the Prez? (Bypassing Rhambo of course)

[pansypoo53219]

2. the gnews are also clutching to ronny raygun's

bones as well, turning the ship of state will not be quick.

[yurbud]

3. It would be nice to at least see the wheel turning away from the Reagan iceberg

even if the ship doesn't move much.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

4. They're all hugry for brains

Since clearly none of them have one.

[applegrove]

5. I can't believe some DUers don't like Krugman. He is a national treasure.

[yurbud]

6. his critics are paid DLC trolls

[flyarm]

7. +1

[applegrove]

9. I would think they would more likely be rightwingnut trolls if they are trolls.

[Apollo11]

8. This column is a MUST READ down to the last line

I sure hope the President saw Krugman's conclusion:

... vast amounts of insurance industry money have been flowing to obstructionist Democrats like Mr. Nelson and Senator Max Baucus, whose Gang of Six negotiations have been a crucial roadblock to legislation.

But some of the blame also must rest with President Obama, who famously praised Reagan during the Democratic primary, and hasn’t used the bully pulpit to confront government-is-bad fundamentalism. That’s ironic, in a way, since a large part of what made Reagan so effective, for better or for worse, was the fact that he sought to change America’s thinking as well as its tax code.

How will this all work out? I don’t know. But it’s hard to avoid the sense that a crucial opportunity is being missed, that we’re at what should be a turning point but are failing to make the turn.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/24/opinion/24krugman.htm