Be scared, very scared

Maybe Paul Krugman and yrs truly are the only fierce Obama supporters who were disappointed by the inaugural address.  But Krugman's right.  Most of my criticisms have to do with tone (uninspiring), some of the language (repeated "musts", a pretentious mannerism), and lacking in empathy (unusual for Obama).  Krugman's have much greater weight. Even as the new president spoke global  financial problems were getting worse and the markets were tanking.

My real problem with the speech, on matters economic, was its conventionality. In response to an unprecedented economic crisis — or, more accurately, a crisis whose only real precedent is the Great Depression — Mr. Obama did what people in Washington do when they want to sound serious: he spoke, more or less in the abstract, of the need to make hard choices and stand up to special interests. That’s not enough. In fact, it’s not even right.

Though I think Obama did the right thing when he ascribed some of our economic troubles to "our collective failure to make hard choices," I think Paul Krugman makes a good point.

This is, first and foremost, a crisis brought on by a runaway financial industry. And if we failed to rein in that industry, it wasn’t because Americans “collectively” refused to make hard choices; the American public had no idea what was going on, and the people who did know what was going on mostly thought deregulation was a great idea.

Krugman, among many of our best economists not on the right, is worried that the temperate Obama will pull his punches when it comes to the economy.  At best, he writes, the inaugural address is "just a speech" and the new president will act boldly and fast.

He’s going to have to decide how bold to be in his moves to sustain the financial system, where the outlook has deteriorated so drastically that a surprising number of economists, not all of them especially liberal, now argue that resolving the crisis will require the temporary nationalization of some major banks.

So is Mr. Obama ready for that? Or were the platitudes in his Inaugural Address a sign that he’ll wait for the conventional wisdom to catch up with events? If so, his administration will find itself dangerously behind the curve.  ... If we don’t get drastic action soon, we may find ourselves stuck in the muddle for a very long time.

There's just the faintest suspicion that Obama may repeat Hoover's huge mistake.  "Remember," Krugman writes, "Herbert Hoover didn’t have a problem making unpleasant decisions: he had the courage and toughness to slash spending and raise taxes in the face of the Great Depression. Unfortunately, that just made things worse."

And if Krugman's criticisms aren't enough, Obama will have to deal with what appears to be the opposition of dozens of musty-smelling Republicans in both the Senate and the House. So much for bipartisanship.