WaPo | After making fighting income inequality an early focus of his second
term, President Obama has largely abandoned talk of the subject this
election year in a move that highlights the emerging debate within the
Democratic Party over economic populism and its limits.
During the first half of this year, Obama shifted from income
inequality to the more politically palatable theme of lifting the middle
class, focusing on issues such as the minimum wage and the gender pay
gap that are thought to resonate with a broader group of voters.
The pivot is striking for a president who identified inequality as
one of his top concerns after his reelection, calling it “a fundamental
threat to the American Dream, our way of life and what we stand for
around the globe.”
The shift also underscores the ongoing dispute between the Democratic Party’s liberal and moderate wings
over how to address inequality issues. Whereas the left takes a more
combative tone, seeking to focus on the income gap and what it views as
the harmful influence of big business and Wall Street, more centrist
forces in the party favor an emphasis on less-divisive issues.
White House officials say the change in the president’s rhetoric was
driven by a desire to focus not just on the problem — economic
inequality — but also on solutions that could address it. Others close
to the White House contend that the move is at least partly driven by
Democratic polling that found that talking about income inequality does
not register strongly with the American public and risks accusations of
class warfare.
