Paul Krugman, Happy Warrior

Few things have done Paul Krugman greater honor than the large, angry and often frustrated contingent of right-wing critics provoked by his New York Times columns over these eight years—until today's announcement that he has been awarded the highest recognition in his profession, the Nobel Prize.

It's worth remembering now, as many of those same critics prepare to raise churlish questions about Krugman's prize, that he entered the political wars rather reluctantly.

Without pretending to know him well, I can say that I like him personally as well as admiring his writing—and that when we first met in the fall of 2003, as liberals were at long last beginning to push back, he was still shocked by the ugly quality of the debate in a political culture dominated by the likes of Karl Rove, Roger Ailes, Rush Limbaugh, and Bill O'Reilly. (And yes, before any of my fans gets excited, I should also disclose that he reviewed one of my books favorably back then.)

He would have been perfectly happy writing his elegantly lucid articles and books on the world economy, teaching his students at Princeton, enjoying life and the rewards that his talents earned. Nobody would ever have criticized him for that.

Instead he chose the way of direct engagement in defense of his deepest beliefs—and has since written books that are important and accessible to everyone. He has become a happy warrior. His most recent book, The Conscience of a Liberal, is powerful and relevant now because it examines, among many other topics, the detrimental economic effect of declining wages and incomes for most Americans.

Congratulations, Paul.