Making Nice With Krugman

Barack Obama has jumped all over John McCain's article in a trade publication about how he wants to deregulate the health insurance industry the same way he helped deregulate the financial sector, mentioning it in stump speeches and now releasing an ad.



"A risk we just can't afford to take" is a new tag line, and I think it's effective.

What's interesting is that this little nugget of information was dug up by Paul Krugman, who was wary of Obama throughout the primary campaign, including in a high-profile spat over Obama's health insurance plan. This is kind of a rapprochement of sorts. As long as Obama's team seems to be reading Krugman, I hope they'll take a look at his opinion on the financial stick-up being attempted by Bush and President Paulson:

Some skeptics are calling Henry Paulson’s $700 billion rescue plan for the U.S. financial system “cash for trash.” Others are calling the proposed legislation the Authorization for Use of Financial Force, after the Authorization for Use of Military Force, the infamous bill that gave the Bush administration the green light to invade Iraq.

There’s justice in the gibes. Everyone agrees that something major must be done. But Mr. Paulson is demanding extraordinary power for himself — and for his successor — to deploy taxpayers’ money on behalf of a plan that, as far as I can see, doesn’t make sense.

Read the whole thing. You too, Barack.