Krugman: Debunking the Reagan myth.

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Published: January 21, 2008

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Contrast that with Mr. Obama’s recent statement, in an interview with a Nevada newspaper, that Reagan offered a “sense of dynamism and entrepreneurship that had been missing.”

Maybe Mr. Obama was, as his supporters insist, simply praising Reagan’s political skills. (I think he was trying to curry favor with a conservative editorial board, which did in fact endorse him.) But where in his remarks was the clear declaration that Reaganomics failed?

For it did fail. The Reagan economy was a one-hit wonder. Yes, there was a boom in the mid-1980s, as the economy recovered from a severe recession. But while the rich got much richer, there was little sustained economic improvement for most Americans. By the late 1980s, middle-class incomes were barely higher than they had been a decade before — and the poverty rate had actually risen.

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Now progressives have been granted a second chance to argue that Reaganism is fundamentally wrong: once again, the vast majority of Americans think that the country is on the wrong track. But they won’t be able to make that argument if their political leaders, whatever they meant to convey, seem to be saying that Reagan had it right.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/21/opinion/21krugman.html?em&ex=1201150800&en=a3be598123508bda&ei=5087%0A

"There was a sense of it! You can't deny it! It's just a fact!"

What actually cannot be denied is that Obama is very carefully trying to mine the misguided nostalgic feelings ignorant people have for a bygone and mythologized era. Exploiting or furthering that myth is not good behavior from any progressive. Challenging this nonsense directly would be best, yet if that's not possible -at least- one should avoid furthering that insulting and dangerous Reagan myth.

he transformed me from a fiscal conservative Republican, to a die hard civil rights Democrat.

He opened my eyes to the evils of unfettered egotistical self-indulgence.

For that, I am grateful.