Sharpe's Opinion
Monday, 23rd Mar, 2009
Preliminary thoughts on the tax bill
Paul Krugman laying into the Obama administration over the weekend:
This was bad analysis, bad policy, and terrible politics. This administration, elected on the promise of change, has already managed, in an astonishingly short time, to create the impression that it’s owned by the wheeler-dealers. And that leaves it with no ability to counter crude populism.
It’s almost as if they’re entirely new to all this government stuff, isn’t it. As if they’ve not been in government before.
And at the same time, on the other side of the pond, Mr Gordon Brown has all the qualifications and experience that Obama lacks, so he must be doing a far better job at dealing with financial turmoil.1
- No, I couldn’t keep a straight face while I wrote that. I wonder if you could as you read it. [↩]
Comments
Thing is, Obama has an entirely new administration and it’s going to tale them a while to get on form, particularly facing the meltdown of an economy. I say give him at least 6 months – probably a year – before making any final judgements. He’s already taken some very positive steps. He needs time.
The real question is, how long before the headlines say
“He’s Not the Messiah, He’s A Very Naughty Boy!”
“…Obama has an entirely new administration and it’s going to tale them a while to get on form…”
And yet, I don’t recall Bush being given such an easy ride on his various gaffes and missteps by the media…
Actually Bush had reasonably high approval ratings at first, and everyone was far too distracted with the question of whether or not he had actually won the election to worry about his Government.
Although my point was the Bush administration was not new to Government like Obama. Bush’s father had been president. Most of the influential members had already worked in the White House. Bush hardly lead from the front, either.
AND he didn’t have to deal with the end of the financial system as we know it. When disaster struck for Bush he’d already been president for 9 months.
“Although my point was the Bush administration was not new to Government like Obama. Bush’s father had been president. Most of the influential members had already worked in the White House.”
But isn’t Obama recycling ex-Clinton era appointees as fast as he can?
Only because his first choices have all been arrested or discovered to be unsuitable!
I don’t think it’s any secret that Obama’s first few months have not been a huge success – but as I’ve said elsewhere, there’s a lot more of his presidency left to go.
After three months with Gordon Brown as Prime Minister most people were wondering if they’d misjudged him and he was actually going to turn out to be a great leader after all. Food for thought.
Gosh, it’s almost as if, well, as if we’ve all come to our senses and realised…something.
ladytizzy
March 23, 2009 at 6:48 pm