What ordinary voters see is an economy that is not working for them

[eridani]

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/19/opinion/19herbert.html?ref=opinion

What ordinary voters see is an economy that is not working for them and an increasingly dismal outlook for their children. From that perspective, the enormous budget deficits don’t seem to be providing much of a tangible return.

Democrats are making the seemingly logical argument that the policies pushed by their Republican opponents will only make matters worse. They are constantly urging voters to remember that it was conservative Republican laissez-faire policies that landed us in this horrid mess in the first place.

The problem for President Obama and his party is that logic does not always rule the electoral roost. Voters want the same thing they wanted in 2008: change.

However the elections turn out, the Obama administration needs to begin focusing much more intently on the economic plight of ordinary Americans. Nearly 44 million are living in poverty. A third of all Hispanic children and more than a third of black children are poor.

Job security and benefits like paid vacations, health insurance and a secure retirement are going the way of the typewriter. More than 11 million new jobs would have to be created just to get us back to where we were when the Great Recession began. No one sees that happening anytime soon.

Democrats are in trouble because they have not been nearly aggressive enough in confronting this profound economic crisis facing so many millions of ordinary Americans.

[ixion]

1. indeed. For all the happy talik about recovery, from the street-level view, it looks pretty dismal

and not very much like a recovery in the slightest.

[rucky]

2. Scrapping the big ideas early in negotiations...

and doing it behind closed doors was the biggest mistake.

I remember when Bush had a plan (tax cuts, PATRIOT Act, Medicare reform, even privitizing social security), he'd take it on a road show and promote it to the people before it went to Congress. Even when things didn't turn out the way he planned (privitizing ss), at least people knew he had a vision. Albeit a horrible, self-serving, destructive vision, but a vision nonetheless. The public promotion also served as an effective way to pressure the opposition into going along with it (the war, the patriot act).

Since 2009, we snuck a few things in under the radar, but generally, this aggressive and clear path was never paved for the American people. Unless you're following closely, there's nothing much to go along with that tell people: "hang in there, and we'll get to where we need to go."

[DailyGrind51]

3. The Dems really have not done much about economic disparity because their contributors are rich.

[xchrom]

4. they wanted strong change from the left.

they were willing to throw down for a really new way -- they didn't get it.

my notion: reagan is dead -- leave him in his grave dems.
no need to quake in your boots once you get the chance to drive.

[NNN0LHI]

5. A neighbor with two imported cars in his driveway complained about no jobs for his kids yesterday

I looked straight at him and gave him the stinkeye.

Don

[The Uncola]

6. This sentence should be tatooed on the forehead of every Dem in DC:

"Democrats are in trouble because they have not been nearly aggressive enough in confronting this profound economic crisis facing so many millions of ordinary Americans."

[Hannah Bell]

7. agreed. otoh, reagan somehow got elected to a second term with about 9% unemployment. why?

[KharmaTrain]

8. What They Don't See Is What Could Have Been

When the economy crashed in late 2007 it was the byproduct of 30 years of trickle-down crony capitalism. "Deregulation" teamed up with a regressive bankruptcy bill in 2005 turned the markets into a gambling casino and the credit market into a confidence game. When the deck of cards came tumbling down there were few supports to prevent the economy from totally collapsing. We truly were hanging on a thread. While I detest the concept of bailing out those who created the mess, it was a necessary evil to prevent a total paralysis that would have put far more people out of work and made it a lot harder to turn things around.

Yes, people are feeling an economy that is stagnating...tight credit is styming all "recovery", but then what type of recovery do we expect? I hear people demanding jobs...but from where? We have an industrial infrastucture that has rusted...or been off-shored. Our corporates put profit ahead of the welfare of their customers and there are fewer jobs today than any time that I can remember in my way too many years on this rock. Restart up the steel mills? Where? Gear up the tech sector? It was outsourced to India. Do another WPA? That takes money that will dig the government in a bigger financial hole and that's all well and good for those with construction skills, but how about the millions with degrees and experience in the service sector? The answers aren't easy...and there's no clear way to a full recovery; especially with the grip the lobbyists and the corporates have on all facets of the economy.

This "recovery" will be slow...and uncertain. While one hopes that new green technologies can be a way to a better future, the real matter is restoring a consumer economy that fuels growth on all levels. It's wiping out the debts many are facing (time for a consumer bail-out...we're due) and SBA loans and tax breaks to encourage small business that do the true innovating. This is just the first steps...followed up by the re-regulation of many industries.

Sadly, this isn't what the polls show. Seems the billions the Kochs and their billionaire buddies have succeded in distorting the causes of the problems and we're about to head in the wrong direction. Well, not wrong if you have yours...the rest of us are on our own.