Paul Krugman

I suppose it's nice that Paul Krugman gave a shout-out to the concept of good government in his column today, but I wish he'd spent a bit more time talking about what is actually needed to make good government happen, and cut the paragraph ragging on the Obamas for choosing a nice Christmas rental house. I have no problem with people calling politicians out for hypocrisy, for cautioning against pork in bills that must be targeted carefully, or whatever. But Krugman could have done his readers a better service by explaining the lack of oversight in the bailout so far, and precisely why such oversight is important, with examples.

Instead, he tosses about references to whistleblower rights and explains "goo-goo" as a nickname, and doesn't say anything in particular. My sense is that voters know that they want government to deliver more to them, and to deliver it better, but they don't have a terrific sense of what policies and procedures make that kind of service delivery possible. Explaining those inner workings in detail would have been helpful.