Imagine, if you will, someone who read only the Wall Street Journal editorial page between 2000 and 2011, and someone in the same period who read only the collected columns of Paul Krugman. Which reader would have been better informed about the realities of the current economic crisis? The answer, I think, should give us pause. Can it be that our enemies were right?
David Frum made that observation (based on a Susan Sontag speech) in the frumforum on August 3rd of this year.
http://www.frumforum.com/...
I’ve never agreed with David Frum on much of anything, but that message is pretty astute. And to answer his question: yes, the progressives have been right all along.
In a follow-up article posted yesterday by Henry Blodget, CEO and Editor-in-chief of Business Insider, Blodget asks:
Will Frum be ostracized for that remark? After all, Paul Krugman is supposed to be Public Enemy No. 1.
Or will more Republicans begin to agree that, although government spending does indeed need to be cut eventually, and the debt problem does need to be addressed, suddenly chopping, say, $1 trillion of government spending next year is not the best way to get ourselves out of this mess?
http://www.businessinsider.com/...
I’ve often wondered why Democrats are so piss-poor at messaging. Progressives have an excellent track record at being right about economic and social issues, but conservatives, who are absolutely abysmal when it comes to predicting the consequences of the programs they champion, constantly drown that message out. And our messaging is hindered by the milquetoast responses offered by our Democratic leaders when our best programs come under attack.
If a group of unknowns, camping out in a park in New York City, can capture the world’s imagination by simply proclaiming “we are the 99%,” then why can’t Democrats, who have so much money at their disposal make the voters of this nation understand that we have been right all along, and why can't they say it loud enough and with enough conviction to be heard over the corporate spin that is constantly championed by the mainstream media?
It is time to demand that progressive voices be heard. We have been right all along about the causes of the economic crisis.
No one else has that kind of track record.
(NOTE: All bold emphasis was mine)