As usual Rachel Maddow provides a neat summary on the problem of focusing on the debt ceiling at the expense of job creation last night. One point she made that I totally agreed with was that democrats need to stop being afraid of economic populism and learn to embrace its language. Populism works because it's a simple narrative that gives people a reason for why there conditions are terrible. Most people do not consume political media 24/7 so its a bit risky for Obama to rely on this strategy.
Obama’s argument is that progressives won’t be able to make the case to the public for more spending unless the deficit is neutralized as an issue. The idea seems to be that once Republicans and Democrats buy into a bipartisan plan that reduces the deficit, voters will more open when Dems propose government investment in our economy, infrastructure and future. They won’t be as easily distracted every time Republicans shout, “Boo, Big Government Liberal.”
This entire strategy is built on a large number of assumptions. One of them is that most people keep a political scorecard on who is doing what and what were the main arguments between the two parties. Most people do not follow politics closely enough to have an informed opinion on the debt ceiling so your really making a bet that most people will know who Eric Cantor and John Boehner are and hope they will blame them for the looming catastrophe.
Another assumption that is built into this argument is that the economy will fully recover in 2012. The terrible jobs report from last week only confirms the belief that the economy is still on a very long path toward recovery. This point is the most important one. If the economy doesn't get better next year, people are not going to look back and praise Obama for securing a "grand bargain". Instead, they're going to be wondering why are elected officials were not focusing on unemployment for the past two years.
The video is down below.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/...
Note: This item is from my personal blog: http://2moneythoughts.wordpress.com/