Furmanmania

Well, no sooner did I speculate on whether the appointment of that knife-juggler, Jason Furman, as Obama's senior economic adviser means that Obama's economic policy is tacking in the direction of the Rubin rather than the Reich wing of the Democratic Party, when we have this clarification from the candidate's mouth:

"I've got Bob Rubin on one hand [as an adviser] and [former Labor Secretary] Bob Reich on the other....I tend to be eclectic."

Now, just a minute. We have for some time known that the Junior Senator from Illinois intends to imitate the Apostle by becoming all things to all men, but isn't that a bit of a dodge? Now, as I read it, Obama's platform is now: increasing spending, slash the deficit, and lower taxes for average Americans all at the same time. If only economic policy were that simple. Real leaders, however, have to make tough choices, and Obama is increasingly looking like your average, old-school politician - willing to say anything to get elected, unwilling to do the hard thinking necessary to governing.

What Furmanmania Will Tell Us

Certain labor union officials and liberal activists have been furious since Tuesday when Obama named Jason Furman as his economic adviser.

It will be fascinating to see how this all plays out. For my part, I'm totally happy to see Obama siding with the Rubin rather than the Reich wing of the Democratic party, on the grounds that, if you're going to have a sub-optimal economic policy in office, better to relive the 1990s than the 1970s. So, while I certainly have a lot of disagreements with Furman, the fact that he, for example, supports lowering corporate taxes (though not nearly to the degree favored by McCain), is a positive sign that an Obama presidency would not spell total economic disaster for the country.

I think that the major question about Obama at this point is: is he sincere in siding with Furman and Rubin? He may be just positioning himself as a centrist for the campaign, while preparing to tack to the left once in office (a manoeuvre deftly executed by GWB in the opposite direction in 2000-2001). Or he may really be an economic centrist after all. From a campaign perspective, the biggest challenge facing Obama is how he tries to campaign as a centrist without alienating the left-wing base who voted for him in the primaries mainly because they thought that Hillary Clinton was too right-wing.

What I think is really significant about Obama's selection of Furman is that it signifies that Obama will not be the "Reagan of the Left" which some had hoped/feared. The Reagan of the Left - if and when this mythical creature ever appears - would need to realign the country along liberal lines by making liberal arguments, the way that Reagan realigned the country along conservative lines by making conservative arguments in 1976 and 1980. At this point, it's looking like Obama might be a Bill Clinton figure (campaigns as a centrist, governs as a centrist) or a George Bush figure (campaigns as a moderate, governs as a partisan), but it seems highly unlikely he'll accomplish anything like what Reagan accomplished.