Obama's deficit problem

In his column today, Paul Krugman wonders why short-term deficits have roared onto the political agenda with such force and fury. The answer, he says, is that "deficit fear-mongering has become a key part of Republican political strategy."

I'm not so sure. In particular, I think Krugman gives the Republicans too much credit. This story is more about the people than the politicians.

Deficit fear-mongering was a core part of the Democrats' strategy against Bush, too. It just didn't work very well. The reason is that the public didn't care very much about deficits. Why? Well, they weren't very worried about the economy. But now they're terrified about the economy. And deficits -- which signify irresponsible money management to voters who think of things in terms of household finances rather than Keynesian counter-cyclical spending -- are evidence, to them, that the government isn't handling the economy correctly. The fact that deficits rise sharply during recessions simply confirms to voters that there's a connection.

Republicans are taking advantage of this misguided analysis, just as Democrats would happily have latched onto the sentiment if it had presented itself in the Bush years. But the driver here isn't Republican messaging but, on the one hand, anger over the economy, and on the other hand, the fact that the troubled economy needed a vast expansion in the short-term deficit. A bad economy isn't popular and big deficits aren't popular, and combining the two is seriously unpopular, even if it's necessary.

This is why it was important for Obama to do more to explain the role of deficits in an economic crisis rather than just hoping the stimulus would work and things would improve quickly enough that no explanation would be needed.

Source:http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2010/02/obamas_deficit_problem.html