OBAMA 2.O / MIDDLE CLASS CHALLENGE
the American middle class than
numbers can express — and a
greater threat to the country than
economists can quantify.
Democracy, after all, can’t
thrive without a broad, strong, educated core of citizens. But today
they find themselves buffeted by
the remorseless dictates of global
capital, the need for evermore
education and training and the
burdens of higher taxes to pay for
social programs they need, such as
health care.
Battling these global and cultural trends is difficult. In fact,
it is unfair to ask any one person
— even a president, even Barack
Obama — to overcome them all.
The president’s first responsibility in 2009 literally was to do his
part to save the world’s frozen
capital, banking and trade systems
— without which the American
middle class would have had no
prospects at all.
Most fair-minded observers
would say that Obama did his
part, and acquitted himself well
under crushing circumstances. A
workable and affordable health
care system, the central legislative
success of his first term, can (if
he sets it up properly) be of great
benefit to middle-class workers.
HUFFINGTON
01.27.13
But now he must make good
on his own promise — not always
central to his discourse or decision making — to find more goodpaying middle class jobs.
How?
On the stump this year, the
president made manufacturing a
centerpiece of his vision, arguing
that a combination of tax reform,
investment and education could
help repatriate quality jobs to U.S.
soil and stabilize the middle class.
Perhaps sensing the political popularity of such an idea in Rust Belt
states like Ohio and Michigan, the
“People are talking about it. That’s the
difference between this election and
the ones in the past. We actually had a
debate about what’s hollowing out the
country and what isn’t.”
Obama campaign set the lofty but
achievable goal of creating a million new manufacturing jobs during the president’s second term.
In a recent interview on Meet
the Press, the president renewed
his commitment to investing in
infrastructure, which he called
“broken,” as another way to create
good-paying jobs.
With the conversation in Washington focused not just on aus-