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By Pejman Yousefzadeh Posted in Paul Krugman | Policy | Predictable Talking Points — Comments (1) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »

Recall this. Let's see how Krugman has done on the predictability front with his latest article.

First, credit where it is due: There actually is nothing in this article that echoes the "We're heading into a recession (ignore what I've said before -- this time I'm sure)" talking point Krugman traditionally employs. Kudos. It must have been difficult for Krugman to veer from convention and ingrained habit. Let's all give him a round of applause.

Done?

Good. Now on to this.

Read on . . .

. . . given the economic elitism of the modern Republican Party, populism is unavoidably partisan.

Personal appeal won't do the job: history shows that Republicans are very good at demonizing their opponents as individuals. Mrs. Clinton has already received the full treatment, while Mr. Obama hasn't -- yet. But if he gets the nod, watch how quickly conservative pundits who have praised him discover that he has deep character flaws.

"The Republicans are blinkered." Check.

Pretty much the entire article satisfies the "I luuuuuv John Edwards" talking point. A big ol' check for that.

Yes, Mr. Obama is also running as a "change" candidate. But he isn't offering the same kind of change: Mr. Edwards ran an unabashedly populist campaign, while Mr. Obama portrays himself as a candidate who can transcend partisanship -- and given the economic elitism of the modern Republican Party, populism is unavoidably partisan.

It's true that Mr. Obama has tried to work some populist themes into his campaign, but he apparently isn't all that convincing: the working-class voters Mr. Edwards attracted have tended to favor Mrs. Clinton over Mr. Obama.

Furthermore, to the extent that this remains a campaign of ideas, it remains true that on the key issue of health care, the Clinton plan is more or less identical to the Edwards plan. The Obama plan, which doesn't actually achieve universal coverage, is considerably weaker.

"Barack Obama is not a real progressive." Check.

So we haven't had the recession prediction. But doubtless, it will come back soon. The only real question is how Krugman will ensure that Edwards's name remains in circulation despite the fact that he has withdrawn. I suppose that the best way to do that is to push for Edwards as Vice President, despite the fact that Edwards says that he doesn't want the job anymore and that if he took it again, he would look like a perpetual second banana.

But this probably won't matter to Krugman. After all, he has a formula for his columns. He won't want to deviate from that formula and be, you know, original.