I am somewhat astonished to read the following that Paul Krugman wrote yesterday, regarding what he says is President Obama “lashing out” at liberal critics of his compromise with the GOP –
Leave aside the merits for a moment: what possible purpose does this kind of lashing out serve? Will activists be shamed into recovering their previous enthusiasm? Will Republicans stop their vicious attacks because Obama is lashing out to his left? It was pure self-indulgence; even if he feels aggrieved, he has to judge his words by their usefulness, not by his desire to vent.
And here’s some of what I wrote about him a few days ago –
… rhetoric like Krugman’s simply doesn’t do anything useful. I know that it’s natural to feel antogonism towards people you disagree with and I understand well enough the impulse to vent, but it just doesn’t do anything to help people like me actually understand critical and complex issues more deeply.
It’s almost as if he read what I wrote!