David Brooks, "The Debt Indulgence": A Tale of Two Scotts, Walker and Brown

The New York Times op-ed war between columnists David Brooks and Paul Krugman continues.

In his latest New York Times opinion piece entitled "The Debt Indulgence" (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/05/opinion/brooks-the-debt-indulgence.html), Brooks takes aim at Krugman's incessant demands that government spend its way out of the current economic meltdown.

Yesterday, you will recall that Krugman condemned Republicans for preventing Obama from engaging in "big-spending policies" intended to provide the stimulus purportedly needed to drag the US out of its prolonged recession (see: http://jgcaesarea.blogspot.co.il/2012/06/paul-krugman-this-republican-economy.html). Brooks responds by claiming that if Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker is recalled today, "It will be a signal that voters are, indeed, unwilling to tolerate tough decisions to reduce debt" and "will remove any hope this country might have of avoiding a fiscal catastrophe."

Declaring that we are "living in an era of indebtedness," Brooks writes:

"Over the past several years, society has oscillated ever more wildly though three debt-fueled bubbles. First, there was the dot-com bubble. Then, in 2008, the mortgage-finance bubble. Now, we are living in the fiscal bubble.

In this country, the federal government has borrowed more than $6 trillion in the last four years alone, trying to counteract the effects of the last two bubbles."

Further observing Obama's reluctance to take a stand on the Walker recall vote, Krugman concludes:

"I’m hoping that’s not crass political opportunism but an acknowledgment that governments do have to confront their unaffordable commitments. Mitt Romney has been more straightforward, but even he hasn’t campaigned on the choices he would make. If Walker wins, the presidential candidates would have to be as clear before their election as Walker has been after his."

Not crass political opportunism on Obama's part? Yeah, right.

In fact, the Wisconsin vote marks a second referendum on the failed economic policies of Obama. In 2010, Republican Scott Brown shocked the White House by winning a special election to succeed the late Senator Edward M. Kennedy in liberal Massachusetts. Today, voters in Wisconsin will go to the polls to determine whether or not to recall Republican Scott Walker. Note that Obama won Wisconsin by 14 points in 2008 and that a Republican, Ronald Reagan, last won the state in 1984 (see: http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2012/06/04/democratic-disaster-looms-in-wisconsin-scott-walker-obama-unions/#more-795518).

There is a reason why Obama is avoiding taking sides with respect to Walker. The last things Obama needs, as the economy continues to tank, is a further direct repudiation by a state which once sat firmly in his camp and which could waver in November.