The Democrats Problem with Middle Majority

There is an excellent article in the NYT today:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/31/opinion/sunday/tuning-out-the-democrats.html?ref=todayspaper

It coincides with a front page article discussing liberals problems with President Obama and another article discussing farmers problems with a Republican bill requiring residency documentation verification.

What I found enlightening about this article is the feeling that the Democrats are just as much a tool of lobbyists as the Republicans and both parties just look out for the rich guys' interests.  If you believe that, then government is not working for you and all you want to do in minimize your tax burden and you are now on the same page as the Tea Party, even if the Republican policies to privatize Social Security and Medicare will in the long run be bad for your economic class.

Before throwing President Obama under the bus in terms of 2012, liberals need to understand what the communication problem is at the moment with their policies.  Most working people have not been well served by globalization.  Although there is very little beyond education that the government can do to protect workers from globalization, little things matter in generating empathy from voters for what you are trying to do in Washington from a policy standpoint.

So, while I will still voice support for TARP and Fiscal Stimulus, the voters will not support anymore stimulus unless the unemployed become so numerous that it swings public opinion.  No more stimulus.

Banks are the bad guys in many minds and those who read my American Banker blog know that I do not believe bigness is bad and that the banks have been punished enough.  But the articles point is the concept of fairness to all.  People paying mortgages do not think that non-payers should get a break.  Let the banks foreclose and get this behind us.  (Note to bankers, do your documentation appropriately.)

Undocumented workers are perceived as increasing lawlessness regardless of the economic benefit it provides the country.  As the President has been doing, find ways to enforce the law and discuss why a Guest Worker program is needed to accompany that.

Lastly, as I have been promoting for as long as anyone would listen to me, run a budget surplus when the economy is strong and run a deficit when the economy is slow.

We live in interesting and frustrating times.  Liberals cannot give up when their priorities are out of vogue.  Rather they need to rethink, as the article discusses, why their message is not being heard and think about what message will get them listened to.

A humanitarian safety net (Social Security and Health Care) is in the interest of all, but it has to be affordable.  A bankrupt country cannot support a humanitarian safety net.  If you believe as I do in that safety net, then you will support the President's move to the middle and any action he takes to convince people that the government is working for the benefit of all citizens.