Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Who's In The Bubble?

From James Taranto in the Wall Street Journal:

Newsweek's Evan Thomas reports that Richard Haass's new book reveals that as president, "George W. Bush lived in a bubble, partly of his own making, that walled off creative dissent or even, in some cases, common sense."
Wow, there's a shocking new insight!

But of course Thomas brings this up to show how great the new president is by comparison:
Mindful of his predecessor, Barack Obama seems to be trying harder to make sure he hears all sides. On the night of April 27, for instance, the president invited to the White House some of his administration's sharpest critics on the economy, including New York Times columnist Paul Krugman and Columbia University economist Joseph Stiglitz. Over a roast-beef dinner, Obama listened and questioned while Krugman and Stiglitz, both Nobel Prize winners, pushed for more aggressive government intervention in the banking system.

Obama is getting credit for open-mindedness because he met with Paul Krugman? Would Thomas have similarly touted Bush if he'd met with a columnist and an economist who'd been criticizing him from the right?

And it turns out that Bush did meet with Krugman, as the Puffington Host reported last November:

Krugman, who recently received the Nobel Prize in Economics, visited the White House Monday with the other winners to meet with President Bush. [Splenetic MSNBC host Keith] Olbermann asked Krugman, a persistent critic of the President, whether there was "any chance he revealed his plans for the economy in his last weeks in office and if not, was it difficult to shake that hand?" Krugman's response: "This is not a moment to try and change policy. . . . I just want to know my nickname."

How about "Ronnie," short for "former Enron adviser"?

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