thinking anew

William Kristol, in a surprisingly good column for the NYT (maybe he's trying to keep his job), finds a wonderful quote from Lincoln's second annual message to Congress that describes what Obama, Geithner et al have to do now:

The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country.

Comments

[Arthur James]

William Kristol also urges Charles Schumer and others to read "the political economists" like John Maynard Keynes. Absolutely right.

One of the most important lessons of Keynes is not to think of our economic woes in isolation from the rest of the world, or to think that we alone can solve our problems. Keynes teaches us that the US needs, for its own sake, to provide leadership to the international economy, and to encourage coordination of economic policies (such as fiscal and monetary stimulatory measures) between major economies, to develop and strengthen international economic institutions, and as much as possible then to ensure free trade.

It is encouraging that many of those whom President-elect Obama has chosen as his economic team share an understanding of these ideas.

Fortunately there are works about Keynes, such as Donald Moggridge's biography of him and Donald Markwell's study of "Keynes and international relations", to help us consult this great "political economist", as Kristol urges, and in particular to see his emphasis on international economic cooperation.

[Katherine]

I bet if Kristol had known that all he needed to do to keep his job was to watch The West Wing, I bet he would have done this a long time ago:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Stormy_Present

Interesting column, nevertheless.