Voices
responsibility for building that
consensus lies with the leadership
of the Democratic Party, and ultimately with the president.
While it is only a few weeks
since President Obama was explicit in highlighting income inequality as a serious issue, since
that time there has been little
by way of a concerted and consistent effort to generate broad
support for the notion that
this is a major problem. Clearly
Obama should be given more
time to prove his commitment
to this, but it also remains puzzling why it took Obama until
the second year of his second
term to draw direct attention to
the problem. This all suggests
that it is very likely that income
inequality will continue to slip
back in the president’s, and thus
his party’s, agenda, just as gun
regulation did once the horrific
killings at Sandy Hook receded
from the national consciousness.
Failing to address problems of
this kind is bad for the country
for host of reasons ranging from
the hollowing out of the middle
class, to the strain on the social
fabric and increase of poverty
related problems. It is also bad
for the Democratic Party because
LINCOLN
MITCHELL
HUFFINGTON
03.09.14
if the party does not effectively
take on these big important, but
difficult, issues, support and confidence in that party will gradually also begin to erode. Given the
persistence of media campaigns
and political attacks against the
It is very likely that
income inequality will
continue to slip back in the
president’s, and thus his
party’s, agenda, just as gun
regulation did once the
horrific killings at Sandy
Hook receded from the
national consciousness.”
minimum wage, labor unions and
the poor in general, the path of
least resistance for the Democratic Party is to stop talking about
income inequality and go back to
seeking to address the results of
income inequality as if they are
not rooted in more fundamental problems. The opportunity
for real leadership to change this
still exists, and is perhaps
more important than ever.
Lincoln Mitchell works
in political development.