Paul Krugman's Blog--November 5,2008

Krugman has posted three entries today (as of 5:30 pm), two of which I reprint. Yesterday, just after noon, he indicated that Lehman did McCain in. In small print near a graph showing how Obama started pulling away from McCain at about the time Lehman happened, he writes "it was Lehman wot did it." And then in normal print: "if Lehman had waited until November to blow up . . . (W)ould smear and fear have worked?" I think what also happened is that the public began to see that Palin was a smiling nasty. Had Lehman not happened and Romney been chosen, we might not be celebrating today. I urge people to read Krugman's blog as well as his Monday-Friday column in the Times. http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/ .

1. The Monster years

Last night wasn’t just a victory for tolerance; it wasn’t just a mandate for progressive change; it was also, I hope, the end of the monster years.

What I mean by that is that for the past 14 years America’s political life has been largely dominated by, well, monsters. Monsters like Tom DeLay, who suggested that the shootings at Columbine happened because schools teach students the theory of evolution. Monsters like Karl Rove, who declared that liberals wanted to offer "therapy and understanding" to terrorists. Monsters like Dick Cheney, who saw 9/11 as an opportunity to start torturing people.

And in our national discourse, we pretended that these monsters were reasonable, respectable people. To point out that the monsters were, in fact, monsters, was "shrill.

Four years ago it seemed as if the monsters would dominate American politics for a long time to come. But for now, at least, they’ve been banished to the wilderness.

2. Meanwhile, in an alternative universe

Known as the Wall Street Journal opinion pages,

The treatment President Bush has received from this country is nothing less than a disgrace. The attacks launched against him have been cruel and slanderous, proving to the world what little character and resolve we have. The president is not to blame for all these problems. He never lost faith in America or her people, and has tried his hardest to continue leading our nation during a very difficult time.

Our failure to stand by the one person who continued to stand by us has not gone unnoticed by our enemies. It has shown to the world how disloyal we can be when our president needed loyalty — a shameful display of arrogance and weakness that will haunt this nation long after Mr. Bush has left the White House.

Yes, George W. Bush’s status as the most disliked man ever to occupy the White House shows that America was not worthy of him. And attacks on Bush gave aid and comfort to his enemies — unlike the firehose of abuse that will be directed against President Obama, which will of course be an expression of true patriotism.