Stop Me Before I Vote Again

http://www.prospect.org/print-friendly/print/V15/2/delong-b.html

...you will understand the wiring diagram of the Dem fiscal hawkery. Here's a teaser:

Clinton rejected the social-democracy strategy in favor of... the "Eisenhower Republican" strategy. Make economic growth the first priority. Attempt to get the Federal Reserve to be dovish on interest rates in exchange for seriously reducing the deficit. Take other steps such as trade liberalization to try to boost growth. Reform rather than expand social insurance so that you can argue that taxpayers are getting good value for what they are buying. Hope that these policies will boost investment. And make the Clinton legacy a high-investment, high-productivity growth expansion. If all goes well, a decade of rapid growth and a resolution of the deficit will open up new possibilities for progressive policy.

This was the strategy that Bob Rubin executed, first as head of the National Economic Council and then as treasury secretary under Clinton. Rubin's new memoir shows why he was able to do such a superb job, close to the very best job that could be done.

And oh yeah -- since it's the full Bob Rubin monty, written by one of his top suckling pigs, Brad deLong-eurs: while reading his narrative of the Clintonian fiscal high road, for the sake of a Millsian objectivity, banish this image from your memescreen:

Yep, that's Brad -- the Pugsley of the dismal science, if ever there was one.