PrintAugust 26, 2008
Obama Lacks an Economic Narrative
The good friends of Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) at The New York Times Magazine have written a long thumb-sucker about Obama's proposed economic policy. What will "Obamanomics" look like, they wonder?"In some fundamental ways, the American economy has stopped working," writes David Leonhardt, and most families are no better off than they were in 2000. Yet, Leonhardt worries, Sen. Obama doesn't seem to have a compelling story to tell Americans what he would do about it. When Leonhardt asked Obama about his economic approach:He started to answer, but then interrupted himself. "My core economic theory is pragmatism," he said, "figuring out what works." And that doesn't seem to have much to do with hope and change.Back in 1993, we learn, when Bill Clinton decided on his economic strategy, it was a contest between Bob Rubin's "lower the deficit" strategy and Bob Reich's "investment" strategy. Today, Leonhardt...(Read Full Article)
