Krugman also makes a point I've been wondering about: What's happen to the GOP's adviser class? When Barack Obama wants to convey strength and experience on the economy, he call Robert Rubin, Larry Summers, Warren Buffett, Paul Volcker, Laura Tyson, Joe Stiglitz, and Gene Sperling. McCain calls...Meg Whitman? Phil Gramm? Carly Fiorina? Kevin Hasset? Mitt Romney? An online auctioneer, a sour deregulator, a failed CEO, a guy who wrote a book saying that Dow would hit 36,000 right before the market crashed, and an early-model android? It wasn't always like this, Say what you will about him, but Romney had serious economic advisers playing prominent parts in his campaign: Greg Mankiw and Glen Hubbard in particular. McCain has Doug Holtz-Eakin, but he's playing campaign flack rather than acting as an adviser. McCain has been in Washington for 24 years. Hes been prominent for virtually that whole period. That he's not built better or stronger relationships with serious economic minds is extremely telling. Plenty of economists and financial analysts would have happily advised him over the years and then naturally assumed visible roles during his presidential campaign. That few have done so says a lot about how little interest McCain has shown in these issues throughout his career.
