Posted on 12/27/2008 6:42:42 AM PST by shove_it
Times have changed. In 1996, President Bill Clinton, under siege from the right, declared that “the era of big government is over.” But President-elect Barack Obama, riding a wave of revulsion over what conservatism has wrought, has said that he wants to “make government cool again.”
Before Mr. Obama can make government cool, however, he has to make it good. Indeed, he has to be a goo-goo.
Goo-goo, in case you’re wondering, is a century-old term for “good government” types, reformers opposed to corruption and patronage. Franklin Roosevelt was a goo-goo extraordinaire. He simultaneously made government much bigger and much cleaner. Mr. Obama needs to do the same thing.
Needless to say, the Bush administration offers a spectacular example of non-goo-gooism. But the Bushies didn’t have to worry about governing well and honestly. Even when they failed on the job (as they so often did), they could claim that very failure as vindication of their anti-government ideology, a demonstration that the public sector can’t do anything right.
The Obama administration, on the other hand, will find itself in a position very much like that facing the New Deal in the 1930s.
[...]
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
http://econlog.econlib.org/archives/2008/12/krugmans_view_o.html
Dead wrong... in fact Franklin was afraid of too much government. He saw first hand the corruption of King George.
Wish these guys would read a bit of history before making such insipid claims to the contrary.
Hussein is going to make government ‘cool’? Who thinks like that?
“Hussein is going to make government ‘cool’? Who thinks like that?”
Very very uncool people.
Anyone wanting to spend trillions of our money on wasteful programs.
“{beyond barfy}”???
More like “Spewing chunks!”
If it’s beyond barfy........
Uh no, we need to cut government BIG TIME. At least 50% would be a BIG start!!
These people sre such pathetic idiots!!
More like ultra vomit carnage.
Times have not changed. It constantly amazes me that these types would try to force on us a type of government they have never lived under.
Sometimes something is so perfectly stupid, you can’t even insult it. I actually admire the way he was able to raise “Stupid” to a form of art.
“But President-elect Barack Obama, riding a wave of revulsion over what conservatism has wrought, has said that he wants to “make government cool again.” “...
Over what CONSERVATISM has wrought? I think not. More accurate to say “what attempted conservatism, hijacked by liberals, socialists, and give-me-mine voters, has wrought.”
I fear for the future of this grand experiment.
Had real conservatism been in place, we wouldn't be in this mess.
How many barrels of hallucinogens must one ingest to write like this?
Someone who is ignorant of history and who has no real concept of what government is.
He knows damn well he’s lying to you.
IMO considering what he plans on doing to my country at large he's completely deserving of every single criticism. I'm for not cutting the guy a single inch of slack.
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