That could have been part of Krugman’s argument today since he gives the government credit for rescuing the financial system. Of course, it’s not. As I’ve noted before, the argument whether a TARP-type rescue was necessary will go on forever. But I suspect over time we will see the mainstreaming of a revisionist narrative of Bush’s final years as defined by two excruciating and unpopular decisions that forestalled disaster: the surge in Iraq and then the financial rescue.