Does it strike you as odd that Newsweek put Krugman on their cover?
It seems to me as if they're trying to manufacture the DRAMA! by perhaps casting Krugman as a bookish, liberal version of Rush Limbaugh -- lording over the president in the same way Limbaugh is lording over the Republicans.
We all know this dichotomy is ridiculous, of course, but that never stopped the establishment press which has thrived on manufactured political DRAMA!
Upside: Krugman's visibility might give the White House enough of a nudge to revise Geithner's plan. Plus, as dday wrote, it might provide "a counter-weight to the conservative critiques of the President, which are usually so nutty that they pale in comparison to reasoned dissent."
Downside: if this Newsweek thing turns into some sort of "widespread liberal backlash" story -- as it probably will -- the whole point of what Krugman is saying will be lost.
Meanwhile, echoing something Oliver wrote today: when was the last time a non-politician liberal appeared on the cover of Newsweek?