Today Paul Krugman applauded the news (apparently not yet official?) that Elizabeth Warren will run for Senate, but noted that given the fact that we're in the Lesser Depression, the overall lack of economic populism is surprising:
One of the truly amazing things about American politics in the Lesser Depression is that nobody in political life has been willing to run as the champion of ordinary Americans against the financial wheeler-dealers who brought this disaster on us. Republicans won’t, of course, because their worldview says that greed is good and government the only source of evil. But Obama has also been almost weirdly unwilling to express even the slightest populism.
Two points: First, I don't agree that Republicans "won't" - although the rhetoric is undoubtedly disingenuous, I think Republicans are stepping into the rhetorical void ceded by Democrats; second, the lack of economic populism among Democrats is weird given mass unemployment with no end in sight.
It's kind of unbelievable watching far-right Republicans setting up to run against Obama on the economy. It's completely disingenuous, of course, but the rhetoric coming from the right is populist rhetoric. The right intends to run against Obama on the issue of jobs.
Given that we're in the Lesser Depression, the lack of economic populism from Obama (and others) is weird. The country turned against John McCain when he said - in the wake of economic devastation - that the "fundamentals of the economy are sound." I think what Wisconsin and Ohio are showing us is that there really is a place for a candidate who will take up the mantle of economic populism. And what the rhetoric on the right is showing us is that if Obama doesn't take up economic populism, he cedes it to the right. So, it is "weird" and it's also a huge strategic mistake.
6:02 PM PT: Update: Here is Rick Perlstein in Time also calling for Obama to embrace economic populism - http://swampland.time.com/...
7:34 PM PT: Here is John Nichols of The Nation discussing Obama ignoring Wisconsin: http://www.thenation.com/...