Paul Krugman: "Obama is not as progressive as his rivals on domestic policy."

Very interesting Op-Ed by one of my favorite writers, Paul Krugman, of the NY Times. He analyzed all of the candidates on their recession policies, using their - horror of horrors! - own policy statements and plans. As expected, the Republicans are totally useless - none of them will be able to handle this, including new frontrunner McCain, who said recently:

"Take, for example, John McCain’s admission that economics isn’t his thing. "The issue of economics is not something I’ve understood as well as I should," he says. "I’ve got Greenspan’s book."

But as a recent convert to Obama from Edwards from fear of polls and results in Iowa and NH, I was surprised to see what I have said often here:

On the Democratic side, John Edwards, although never the front-runner, has been driving his party’s policy agenda.

He also said the Obama is the least progressive on domestic issues, which I will highlight below.

http://www.nytimes.com/...

Krugman analyzes the economic plans of the top three Dems and has this to say about Edwards:

On the Democratic side, John Edwards, although never the front-runner, has been driving his party’s policy agenda. He’s done it again on economic stimulus: last month, before the economic consensus turned as negative as it now has, he proposed a stimulus package including aid to unemployed workers, aid to cash-strapped state and local governments, public investment in alternative energy, and other measures.

Krugman has been a trustworthy voice for me, so I trust his take on all of this. He says that Clinton's plan is progressive, also:

Last week Hillary Clinton offered a broadly similar but somewhat larger proposal. (It also includes aid to families having trouble paying heating bills, which seems like a clever way to put cash in the hands of people likely to spend it.) The Edwards and Clinton proposals both contain provisions for bigger stimulus if the economy worsens.

And his take on Obama:

As was the case with his health care plan, which fell short of universal coverage, his stimulus proposal is similar to those of the other Democratic candidates, but tilted to the right."

And lastly, there is this:

I know that Mr. Obama’s supporters hate to hear this, but he really is less progressive than his rivals on matters of domestic policy.

I love Krugman, and I like Obama, but I trust Krugman. I am going to give some serious thought to the points he made in this editorial today.