Krugman Responds to Call for Him to Join Cabinet

Yesterday,  actor Danny Glover in a new petition (sent around by MoveOn)  called on the president to appoint Paul Krugman the new Secretary of Treasury.  See the text below.  Now Krugman in a blog post has responded.  Says he's "flattered" but must remain "Mr. Outside."  Here's how it opens:

Yes, I’ve heard about the notion that I should be nominated as Treasury Secretary. I’m flattered, but it really is a bad idea.  Part of the reason is that I am indeed the World’s Worst Administrator — and that does matter. Someone else can do the paperwork — but an administrative job requires making hiring and firing decisions, it means keeping track of many things, and that, to say the least, is not my forte.

Oh, and there’s not a chance that I would be confirmed.  But the main point, as I see it, is that it would mean taking me out of a quasi-official job that I believe I’m good at and putting me into one I’d be bad at.

Here's most of the petition's  text:

Press reports say President Obama will soon nominate a new Treasury Secretary. Press speculation has centered on candidates likely to support the Wall Street agenda of cuts to Social Security and Medicare benefits and other domestic spending rather than government policies to create jobs. 

We want President Obama to nominate Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman, who opposes austerity and wants the government to focus on creating jobs. That's why I created a petition on SignOn.org to President Barack Obama, which says:

We urge you to nominate Paul Krugman for Treasury Secretary. Krugman will protect Social Security and Medicare from benefit cuts, promote policies to create jobs, and help defeat the austerity dogma in Washington and around the world.

Click here to add your name to this petition, and then pass it along to your friends.

Thanks!

–Danny Glover