The coalition against fiscal stimulus

The country may be ready for a woman or a black man as president--but can it deal with something more radical? I mean cooperation between Republicans and Democrats. The reception of last week's fiscal stimulus agreement between the Bush administration and the House leadership makes you wonder whether America is ready for bipartisanship. Everybody says they want it. Finally we get some, and everybody hates it.

Harvard professor and economics blogger Greg Mankiw recently posted a set of links under the heading, "The Coalition Against Fiscal Stimulus": 14 commentaries [latest count: 19] attacking the new plan. That is not counting Mankiw's own posts questioning the need for action, or pieces opposed to this fiscal stimulus, although not to fiscal stimulus in general. The New York Times's Paul Krugman, no part of Mankiw's coalition, attacked the plan as a cop-out. With critics right and left and up and down, the new spirit of cooperation looked exhausted within days.

You can read the rest of this column for National Journal here (the link expires in a week).