Validation of pessimism

Like turd blossoms from heaven, this morning I read an op-ed from one of my heroes that I find to be very very wrong. In this piece
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/02/opinion/02krugman.html?ref=opinion
Paul Krugman argues that the ideology of Republican divisiveness is dead and will not come back. His concluding point follows:

Mr. Obama therefore has room to be bold. If Republicans try a 1993-style strategy of attacking him for promoting big government, they’ll learn two things: not only has the financial crisis discredited their economic theories, the racial subtext of anti-government rhetoric doesn’t play the way it used to.

Will the Republicans eventually stage a comeback? Yes, of course. But barring some huge missteps by Mr. Obama, that will not happen until they stop whining and look at what really went wrong. And when they do, they will discover that they need to get in touch with the real “real America,” a country that is more diverse, more tolerant, and more demanding of effective government than is dreamt of in their political philosophy.

Krugman has a lot more faith in the American voters than I do. The American public of my imagination doesn't know or care a bit about economic theories, nor has its diversity killed its love of bigotry. The Repulicans just need to find the right slogans and characters to hit that vein again.