In his Friday New York Times column, Paul Krugman argued that there are many things the Republican presidential candidates seeking to reinvent their party could learn from President Barack Obama's time in office, but assured readers that there's little chance of that ever actually happening.
The GOP embraces an ideology whose fundaments haven't shifted in decades, and the likelihood of them doing so now -- even if an anti-establishment candidate like Texas Senator Ted Cruz or Donald Trump ends up atop the party's ticket -- is very slim. However, given the nature of the promises these two candidates are proffering, it would do the party well to learn from Obama's mistakes.
"The 2008 election didn’t bring the political transformation Obama enthusiasts expected, nor did it destroy the power of the vested interests," he wrote. "Wall Street, the medical-industrial complex and the fossil fuel lobby are all still out there, using their money to buy influence."
However, Krugman noted that
The lesson of the Obama years, in other words, is that success doesn’t have to be complete to be very real. You say you want a revolution? Well, you can’t always get what you want — but if you try sometimes, you just might find, you get what you need...
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