That political truth has again emerged as the most politically resonant theme in Washington, from the Obama White House crafting its first State of the Union address to a nominally nonpartisan Federal Reserve under fire from both ends of the political spectrum to a Republican Party hoping this fall to capitalize on the anger fueled by widespread economic uncertainty.
President Barack Obama, his health care ambitions put aside, looks set to focus his annual speech to Congress on what the White House described Monday as its major themes: "creating good jobs, addressing the deficit, changing Washington and fighting for middle-class families."
"The middle class has been under assault for a long time," Obama said in addressing the so-called Middle Class Task Force assembled when he took office a year ago. "Too many Americans have known their own painful recessions, long before any economist declared that there was a recession."
The perceived disconnect between Wall Street and Main Street has become one of the driving political forces at a time when a tenth of the U.S. work force – and hundreds of thousands more categorized as outside the work force – are without jobs.
Responding to voter anger, Obama plans to ask Congress to freeze spending for some domestic programs for three years, beginning in 2011, The Associated Press and CNN reported, citing unidentified administration officials. One official said the savings would add up to $250 billion over a decade.
The White House said that among other economic measures, the president's annual budget would include proposals to:
- Nearly double tax credits for child care and dependent care for families that earn less than $85,000 per year
- Put a cap on repayment of federal student loans of 10 percent of income
- Create new retirement plans and expand tax credits for retirement savings
Since December the president and a host of senators and members of Congress have also taken aim at one of the most viable political targets this election cycle: alleged malefactors in the financial crisis. In doing so, they have seized on one of the same emotional chords the Republican-backed Tea Party movements played to challenge health care change earlier last year: economic insecurity.
For Obama, the biggest villains have been Wall Street executives resistant to tighter regulation. For Republicans and some Democrats on Capitol Hill, it is the likes of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke – officials who were around when the economy was melting down, worked with the Bush administration to orchestrate bailouts and the first stimulus measures, and are still in power.
But any blame game for past actions carries political resonance this year because of the economic malaise still felt by voters. And it makes for potent, potentially volatile politics.
Take the unexpected confirmation battle for Bernanke. At the end of last week, a renomination that had taken flak but still seemed assured suddenly appeared in jeopardy when several senators up for re-election came out against the Fed chief, even as some of them credited his decisions with preventing a larger economic catastrophe. It was once again "time for change," as Democrat Barbara Boxer put it.
Then, over the weekend, political leaders from both parties realized neither side could afford the market collapse and weakened Fed credibility that would come with a rejected nomination for an office that at times has been described as more important financially than the presidency.
But that left some in Washington, like Mitch McConnell, the top Republican in the Senate, in the awkward position of projecting stability and opposition to the status quo at the same time.
On NBC's "Meet the Press," McConnell said Bernanke will have "bipartisan support in the Senate, and I would anticipate he'll be confirmed."
But would McConnell himself vote for Bernanke? That he wouldn't say.
