If you imagined Paul Krugman leading an army of Occupy Wall Street protestors through the streets, marching up to mansions of moguls like, say, Rupert Murdoch and David Koch while chanting populist slogans decrying the one percent, well that's probably fantasy. Even though The New York Times op-ed columnist offered praise for the protest in recent articles, he drew the line between being an advocate and being an activist on his blog today. He'll be sticking to writing about the protests, rather than leading them or making a speech at Zuccotti Park:

I've been granted the enormous privilege of expounding my own views twice a week in the world’s greatest newspaper. I try to make the best use of that privilege, doing all I can to get the truth across and also advocating for what I believe to be the right policies. There are, however, some restrictions that come with the privilege; one of them is not crossing the line between advocate and activist. And there are good reasons for drawing that line.

So, expect more encouragement and Buffalo Springfield references in his columns.

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Erik Hayden