Hangin' with George Stephanopoulos and Paul Krugman

Ok, the title's a bit of an exaggeration. But I was asked by the Miller Center (a political history- and policy-oriented think tank in Charlottesville, VA, where I had a fellowship in olden times) to write the "white paper" for the next in a series of debates on ABCs "This Week" that's coming up this Sunday morning. The subject of the debate is: "Is the Recovery Built to Last?" This is the fourth season of these periodic "This Week" debates organized by the Miller Center (the first three aired on PBS). In the last debate, for example, Paul Ryan and George Will squared off against Barney Frank and Robert Reich on the proper size and role of government.

Here's the line-up for this Sunday:

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, moderator

CARLY FIORINA, former CEO of Hewlett-Packard

JENNIFER GRANHOLM, former governor of Michigan

PAUL KRUGMAN, Nobel Prize-winning economist and New York Times columnist

ERIC SCHMIDT, executive chairman of Google

DAVID WALKER, former Comptroller General

GEORGE WILL, Pulitzer Prize-winning commentator

My paper's been sent to the panelists. I'm realistic about how much they'll read/use it, of course, but I'm hoping Stephanopoulos will nudge discussion toward a couple of my points. You can click on the paper at the top right of the "This Week" webpage.

I hope you've found this a more interesting entry than the one I could have written about two things that just won't relent: my over-the-top-amount-of-work semester (next stop, checking the page proofs and index on the Minnesota book) and my back injury ...