Democrats are often accused of "pandering" to special interest groups. This belief is mouthed by Republicans and repeated by the media. The question is where does this perception come from? Why is it that Democrats, who believe, they represent and speak for the middle class are accused of pandering to special issues?
It comes from the fact that too often the issues connected to Democrats that grab the media's attention are issues that passionately affect a relatively small number of people. Take gay rights, for example. Gay rights only directly affects a relatively small minority of voters. The same is true for abortion rights. While most Americans favor some form of choice, only a relatively small number of voters are passionately interested in either protecting or limiting choice.
This wasn't always the case. When Democrats were pressing for programs like Social Security, Medicare, and other economic issues, we were pushing programs that benefited a broad group of voters. Because we were able to win campaigns by appealing to a broad cross-section of voters, we were also able to accomplish other things that benefited other people, people who were not necessarily a broad section of the population.
To put it another way, a lot of voters don't see Democrats as talking about issues that appeal to them. They don't see us as passionately interested in helping people who work, have health insurance, go to work, raise their families, and go about their lives.
What kind of issues am I talking about? Issues that go to their quality of life, or issues that go to the way their government operates. That's what we need to start talking about.