Their Sadness Makes Me Smile

Krugman is unhappy with the debt deal. Very unhappy. His president "surrendered," he thinks. Don't bother to click through to read him. Just know he is extremely disappointed. And enjoy his frowny face.

As always when the Left is disappointed with President Obama, the lamentations part is my favorite.

I do worry about the automatic defense cuts. But if they are triggered, Republicans can immediately introduce legislation to restore those appropriations and let the Democrats explain to the public why slashing our defenses in a dangerous world is the way to solve the spending problem built on domestic programs.

And while President Obama arguably got the one thing he wanted most, a debt ceiling high enough to last past the 2012 election, unless I miss my guess, it is only big enough if no new spending programs are added on to our budget. So the president won't let people like Krugman or Pelosi get new spending that would spoil his reelection campaign by forcing a new debate on debt limits during next year.

We have a spending problem. It was never going to be solved in a last-minute weekend of marathon debates. But at least we started to confront the problem before we hit rock bottom. Remember not to let the quest for the marginally good be the enemy of the barely adequate. We'll talk perfection later.

UPDATE: Krugman even supports the option of the president violating the constitution by relying on the 14th Amendment to unilaterally raise the debt limit! ("Obama can move now; and even if he eventually loses in the courts, that gives him time.") Got that? The courts may (almost certainly would) declare the president's action unconstitutional if he went that route, but it would still be a good thing to do, as far as Krugman is concerned. I'm sorry. Wasn't it President George W. Bush who shredded the constitution and sought to establish a Bushtatorship?

And the comments by Krugman's fanboys are frightening. Those people are seriously disturbed.