Sometimes, it seems like Paul Krugman is the only one who gets it. Admittedly, I’m a huge fan, but it seems like Krugman, not Geither and Summers, is the economic mind that can save our economy. He sure nails the absurdity of the current situation:

A not-so-funny thing happened on the way to economic recovery. Over the last two weeks, what should have been a deadly serious debate about how to save an economy in desperate straits turned, instead, into hackneyed political theater, with Republicans spouting all the old clichés about wasteful government spending and the wonders of tax cuts. It’s as if the dismal economic failure of the last eight years never happened — yet Democrats have, incredibly, been on the defensive. Even if a major stimulus bill does pass the Senate, there’s a real risk that important parts of the original plan, especially aid to state and local governments, will have been emasculated. Somehow, Washington has lost any sense of what’s at stake — of the reality that we may well be falling into an economic abyss, and that if we do, it will be very hard to get out again.

As one of my friends messaged me today, “it’s like the Republicans won the election.” How did the Democrats let that happen?

What’s important now is solving the problem. Of course, Krugman has sage advice there, too. Obama would do well to listen to Paul Krugman right now and not his high paid political consultants and advisers who came up with that failed plan to get 80 votes in the Senate, which actually just empowered the Republicans. “The Obama strategists” who leaked that to the Politico last month are idiots. That not only didn’t work, it’s been a disaster. Americans need leadership from our president and Krugman has a strategy:

So what should Mr. Obama do? Count me among those who think that the president made a big mistake in his initial approach, that his attempts to transcend partisanship ended up empowering politicians who take their marching orders from Rush Limbaugh. What matters now, however, is what he does next. It’s time for Mr. Obama to go on the offensive. Above all, he must not shy away from pointing out that those who stand in the way of his plan, in the name of a discredited economic philosophy, are putting the nation’s future at risk. The American economy is on the edge of catastrophe, and much of the Republican Party is trying to push it over that edge.

Obama started to do that yesterday. Our president needs to go all out now — just like he did during the campaign. He’s fighting against the same failed policies now that he fought in the fall. But, now the situation is even more dire — and Obama has to fix it.

Last night, at the Democratic House Caucus retreat, Obama sounded pretty riled up. Here’s an excerpt from the White House transcript:

But what I have also said is — don’t come to the table with the same tired arguments and worn ideas that helped to create this crisis. (Applause.) You know, all of us here — imperfect. And everything we do and everything I do is subject to improvement. Michelle reminds me every day how imperfect I am. (Laughter.) So I welcome this debate. But come on, we’re not — we are not going to get relief by turning back to the very same policies that for the last eight years doubled the national debt and threw our economy into a tailspin. (Applause.) We can’t embrace the losing formula that says only tax cuts will work for every problem we face; that ignores critical challenges like our addiction to foreign oil, or the soaring cost of health care, or falling schools and crumbling bridges and roads and levees. I don’t care whether you’re driving a hybrid or an SUV — if you’re headed for a cliff, you’ve got to change direction. (Applause.) That’s what the American people called for in November, and that’s what we intend to deliver.(Applause.) So the American people are watching. They did not send us here to get bogged down with the same old delay, the same old distractions, the same talking points, the same cable chatter. (Applause.) You know, aren’t you all tired of that stuff?

Yes, we are tired of the same old Republican stuff and the same painful cable chatter. That’s the Obama we need to see.

With the horrible news about unemployment this morning, he’s got no time to lose.