A Liberal's Class Warfare Call to Arms

"When a regular person has to deal with financial problems in his day-to-day life… he doesn't remember the massive problems" of the past. "The indignation that person has is usually turned against the current authority." 

– Vladimir V. Putin, speaking at his United Russia Party Congress, Nov. 28 from the New York Times

"Just remember, the higher a monkey climbs on a pole, the more you can see his butt."

– David Axelrod, President Obama's chief campaign strategist, referring to Newt Gingrich's rising poll numbers, 

Dec. 14 from the New York Times

Both opinions cited above carry important lessons President Obama should heed as he formulates a strategy for the 2012 election. The Putin Principle, let us call it, is a blunt reminder that voters often penalize whoever is in office for their current situation, regardless of where the blame ultimately should rest. Axelrod's flip remark on Tuesday about a potential opponent's exposure to public scrutiny should be pasted on the Obama-Biden Chicago campaign headquarters wall in giant type as a reminder of how ridiculous such comments sound, and how off-putting, uncouth and counterproductive they are in this challenging economic and political environment.

"Obama + Dems: Fighting for the middle class" should be the only campaign bumper sticker and commentary coming out of the Democrats' re-election headquarters. Every effort should be made to focus voter attention on the big picture. Because, believe it or not, long-term economic trends favor progressive Democrats even at a time when joblessness remains high. Nothing should get in the way of a Democratic message supporting a resurgent middle class. But let me be clear: That campaign will require a long, hard, well-thought-out concerted effort by all to gain favor in the coming months, without distraction, without apology and without monkey-butt gazing.

To understand why, let me revisit the Putin Principle. For the truth in his statement about voter sentiment in Russia is, alas, undoubtedly true in America as well. It's only human nature. In spite of the majority of thoughtful, reasonable, well-educated people among the U.S. voting population, the election of a president likely could be turned into a plebiscite on the sitting executive. If Republicans have their way, here's how simply they will frame this next general election: "Are you better off than you were four years ago?" If that oversimplification takes hold, Obama-Biden can kiss their second term goodbye, based on polls today indicating that about 70 percent of Americans believe the country is headed in the wrong direction.

Democrats up for re-election or running for a first term both should embrace this voter sentiment of disgust rather than run away from it, as might seem to be the logical response. The single question Obama-Biden and all Democrats need to hammer home to voters this year is: "How is that trickle down, tax-breaks-for-the-rich Republican government working out for ya?" That counteracts the previously cited Putin Principle, and also frames the election with a long-term perspective by homing in on decades of destructive conservative Republican policy that somehow seems to get swept under the rug while the decades-old "tax-and-spend liberal" attacks remain as fresh as the day they were concocted.

The difficulty in this approach, I will concede, can't be underestimated. For one thing, 70 percent disapproval of our country's direction encompasses a variety of complaints among people from all walks of life. For another, the two-party system remains evenly split  over how our economic difficulties should be addressed. For every Tea Party whiner who wants to end health care reform and drown a shrunken federal government in the bathtub, there's a committed liberal fighting big money's, big corporate's and big oil's incursions on the American Dream.

Sure, Obama-Biden could tout their successes hunting down al Qaida terrorists and bringing the Iraq war to an end. But our longest war isn't in the Middle East or Afghanistan. Our longest war is stateside — class war. It's a war Democrats have avoided to their detriment. It's a war of ideas largely lost to the plutocracy's purchase and takeover of financial policy and mass media punditry, defining tax cuts and privatization as simple, painless fixes for the middle class and so-called job creators. The policies have been abject failures, yet live to fight another term.

It is high time for a Democratic counterattack on the class war front and a willingness to engage for the long haul. What we must explain to all voters this year, no matter whether from the Blue or Red states, is that their votes next November to "throw the rascals out" endanger a repeat of  the results of the 2010 elections, where reasonable incumbency was replaced with Koch brothers funded, far-right-wing extremism (witness Wisconsin, Ohio, Michigan and Florida). While we can appreciate our differences on such topics as gun control and immigration, Democrats must challenge all voters who remain openminded to put aside those concerns in order to save our country from a doubling down on the trickle-down economics programs that continue to dominate Republican talking points and would certainly take us further into insolvency should Republicans take control of both houses of Congress and the White House. 

We must enlist all Democratic activists squarely into an army of class war warriors, and invite all Americans to join our economic and moral struggle for equal opportunity and a continuation of job creation already started by Obama-Biden, which has been vastly successful at turning around the eight of the weakest years in job creation history of Bush-Cheney administration. We must do battle on offense against the party of aristocratic wealth, while promoting the Democratic party's longstanding historic role as a friend of wage earners and anyone who believes in upward mobility. The cherished values of liberals and progressives — fairness, opportunity, investment in people, responsible stewardship of  our precious resources — transcend party. These weapons need to be the ones with which Democrats fight with laser focus in 2012. These represent our moral high ground as well as our fundamental identity. These goals will reflect our optimism about the future. And they will help counteract the Putin Principle.

Finally, forget opponents who appear to invite a little monkey-butt gazing. Come November 2012, only the fate of the American Dream hangs in the balance. We need never lose sight of those stakes, nor our role in making the dream real for millions of real Americans.