This was published last Friday, but I didn't see it until tonight. If someone has already written a diary on this, I'll be happy to delete.
According to Michael Hirsh at the National Journal, President Obama held an unpublicized meeting with some liberal economists just before his news conference about the tax cuts compromise on December 7th. In attendance were Paul Krugman, Joseph Stiglitz, Jeffrey Sachs, Alan Blinder, and Robert Reich. With Obama were Austan Goolsbee and Jared Bernstein.
I knew that Reich had met with thte President, but I was unaware this was a larger meeting.
In what two participants describe as a somewhat-argumentative one-hour discussion, Obama tried to convince the group that his compromise would deliver more bang for the buck to the economy and to people most in need of help than any other politically feasible option.
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