I simply don't understand how voters can turn their backs on a President who brought us back from

[Chathamization]

142. The stimulus being too small and the pivot towards deficit reduction are two of the reasons why the

The stimulus being too small and the pivot towards deficit reduction are two of the reasons why the labor market is still fairly terrible. These were huge mistakes that also played a major role in the 2010 defeat, which then kneecapped the possibility for anything to get done.

Progressives were tearing out their hair in 2009 saying that we needed to use the time we had to act on a number of issues, instead of tepid halfway measures meant to mollify the press rather than fix the problems at hand. Krugman’s posts from that time are a good reminder.

The stimulus: “But Mr. Obama’s prescription doesn’t live up to his diagnosis. The economic plan he’s offering isn’t as strong as his language about the economic threat. In fact, it falls well short of what’s needed…To be sure, a third of a loaf is better than none. But right now we seem to be facing two major economic gaps: the gap between the economy’s potential and its likely performance, and the gap between Mr. Obama’s stern economic rhetoric and his somewhat disappointing economic plan.”


Saving the banks: “The real question is why the Obama administration keeps coming up with proposals that sound like possible alternatives to nationalization, but turn out to involve huge handouts to bank stockholders… How would nationalization take place? All the administration has to do is take its own planned “stress test” for major banks seriously, and not hide the results when a bank fails the test, making a takeover necessary.”