On Wednesday David Axelrod, President Obama’s top political adviser, appeared to signal that the White House was ready to cave on tax cuts � to give in to Republican demands that tax cuts be extended for the wealthy as well as the middle class. “We have to deal with the world as we find it,” he declared. The White House then tried to walk back what Mr. Axelrod had said. But it was a telling remark
![Opinion | The World as He Finds It (Published 2010)](https://cdn-ak-scissors.b.st-hatena.com/image/square/6eeb539326f1a18a7d1888df5b0e004ff6ff460b/height=288;version=1;width=512/https%3A%2F%2Fstatic01.nyt.com%2Fimages%2F2018%2F04%2F02%2Fopinion%2Fpaul-krugman%2Fpaul-krugman-facebookJumbo.png%3Fyear%3D2010%26h%3D550%26w%3D1050%26s%3D545e5699d5a38628af9aadd6b5ce43321ed3b29b5dff584cd8b1cc56875e66f8%26k%3DZQJBKqZ0VN)