Your Abbreviated Pundit Round-up

Friday is a good day for punditry.

Paul Krugman:

The economic news, in case you haven’t noticed, keeps getting worse. Bad as it is, however, I don’t expect another Great Depression. In fact, we probably won’t see the unemployment rate match its post-Depression peak of 10.7 percent, reached in 1982 (although I wish I was sure about that).

But don't mistake that for good news.

Mort Kondracke: there are no atheists in foxholes, and in a recession, everyone is a Keynesian.

David Brooks: Auto bailout bad. That it likely won't happen (says the newspaper of record) doesn't stop the ranting.

Michael Gove (Tory MP, Surrey):

Team Obama knew that the first, most important, primary of this campaign wasn't in Iowa or New Hampshire but in cyberspace. They built a team of supporters online which was, in Obama's famous phrase, fired up and ready to go, well before Hillary had even declared her hand. These supporters had been mobilising for years around a number of existing online forums, such as Moveon.Org and the Daily Kos, which had become outlets for Democrat frustration following the Bush victory in 2000...

There are powerful lessons from the Obama campaign for politicians here. The first, of course, is, the technology, stupid. The internet and blogosphere are powerful tools but they change the relationship between politicians and the electorate, forcing us to work harder. Used properly, the net can allow direct communication with voters.

Rich Lowry: Let me defend Sarah Palin, because that's what I do. She makes me see sparkles. But the campaign itself? Pitiful. And sad.

Simon Lazarus and Ian Millhiser: Ann Dunham, ERISA, justice and fairness.

Robert Borosage and Stan Greenberg: Center-right? Nah. Center-left.

Roger Simon:

How bad off is the Republican Party right now? Ask Newt Gingrich.

Joe Conason: Don't worry about a filibuster. Between re-election and local politics, the votes aren't there for the GOP.

Kathleen Parker:

Fresh ire aimed at former Harvard University President Larry Summers prompts the question: Shouldn't there be a statute of limitations on dumb things expressed in public?

(Please say yes.)