Obama, Stop Snubbing Progressives

President Obama is having well-documented troubles with progressives, partly because their "sky-high expectations" have collided with political reality, writes Paul Krugman. But the president deserves a fair share of the scorn because of his "consistent snubbing of those who made him what he is." The latest: his waffling on whether to name Elizabeth Warren head of the new consumer protection agency.

This should be a no-brainer, writes Krugman in the New York Times. She's the perfect high-profile advocate, and the agency is largely her creation. Republicans might filibuster, "but that’s a fight the administration should welcome," he writes. Instead, Obama is so "wrapped up in his dream of transcending partisanship" that we might end up with a weak-willed no-name technocrat. Krugman isn't calling on progressives to bail on Obama, but he warns that the president "can’t expect strong support from people his administration keeps ignoring and insulting." (More President Obama stories.)