The question, Krugman asks, is why would the President of the United States refuse to believe us economists who keep on telling him that he must employ more economists.
Maybe, having been bamboozled into gifting billions of dollars to the very richest people on earth under the TARP, the President has become a bit less willing to be so gulled.
More likely, he is just making the usual ideological appeal to balanced budgets that all high-spending governments make.
^^^^ CB; As stupid as the whole Tea Party platform is, such as it is, a major plank of it was balancing the federal budget. The Tea Party "won" the 2100 election, meaning the Republican made major gains. Obama can't ignore the fact that the majority of voters thereby sent a strong message that the budget should be balanced, no matter how economically foolish that is. Krugman failed to get out voters to counter the Tea Party demagogy and to support for Keynesian economic policies.