Ezra Klein is by far one of the better politico-economic analysts in Washington. He is almost painfully fair and objective, which is why he's also nearly always more critical of Republicans--plainly, easily the most criticizable bunch of insidious hooligans in modern political history. They have taken us to unprovoked warfare, to mass unemployment, to intense polarization, to plutocratic heights, to bankrupt lows. They are a scourge. And everyone knows it, even Republicans, who happen to fancy being America's scolding scourge.
So why in God's name would Klein then scribble this titanically unanalytical unbelievability?
I'm not one who thinks Republicans intentionally tank the economy to undermine Obama.
Right. Rhetorical question. Klein wishes not to come across as "polemical." And since accusing Republicans of nakedly unpatriotic behavior--no matter how thunderingly self-evident that behavior is--would be countered by accusations of Klein having committed the egregiousness of inexorable thinking and conclusive writing, Klein passes. Some would say, "Klein wimps out," but let's not be polemical.
Yet peculiar, is it not, that later in the same column he writes:
If I were the market, I'd take the fact that the leader of one of the two parties [John Boehner] has publicly said that he "welcomes" debt-ceiling showdowns as evidence that the United States is almost certain to default on its debt -- if only temporarily -- within the next decade or so.
In brief, what Boehner desires, as Klein implies (correctly), is a near lethal knifing of the U.S. economy. The Speaker's recently iterated threat--"I will again insist on my simple principle of cuts and reforms greater than the debt limit increase"--was reckless, extortionist, needlessly market-spooking and economy-tanking and ... intentional.
All around the edges, Klein points this out; but dead square in the middle, he's "not one who thinks" it's true.
Come on, Ezra. Get real.
His timidity in not telling the entire truth in some instances is the main reason I don't watch his Saturday program on MSNBC. I have no stomach for the weak-kneed pundit who values his/her pocketbook more than he/she does the truth. IMHO, he is a prime example of why liberals/democrats lose battles that they should winning.
Posted by: majii | May 16, 2012 at 11:05 AM
I would read this differently. I don't think the Republicans, en masse, want to damage the economy, only the ones who understand economics and they want to do that just enough to improve their electoral chances and, of course, serve their primary funding base, the rich. A large part of them, including all the nouveau tea party types, seriously believe believe their policies would help the US economy and vote accordingly. Boehner has no control over those people. That is evident from his numerous failures as Speaker to lead his troops. And so anything he has to say on the subject of welcoming embarrassing showdowns amounts to this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwOP-AMyCKI
Posted by: Peter G | May 16, 2012 at 11:33 AM
Or maybe it's just possible Ezra is pulling an ancient rhetorical trope -- "So are they all, all honorable men." He is distancing himself, ironically, the better to point out the obvious.
The "not" after all is one of the more slippery of conjunctions; in the right circumstances, it becomes merely an intensifier -- when it does not simply vanish in transit to the listeners' ear.
People hear "I am NOT a crook," and wonder what exactly is being denied.
Hence the ability of a Fox viewer to clearly hear, "Obama is raising taxes/ destroying the business community/ coming for your guns."
Posted by: Kitty Miller | May 16, 2012 at 02:30 PM