Setting the Agenda

President Obama has decided to try to make the national conversation about helping the middle class and reducing income inequality.  That is clear from his ongoing campaign centered around the State of the Union speech.  The media has, of course, fallen into the trap of discussing this issue in the terms that Obama himself wants.  There are commentaries about the GOP needing to come up with a plan to deal with the problem.  There are commentaries about whether or not the GOP will defy Obama and block his plan.  There are commentaries about how great Obama's plans would be for the middle class.  In the media, Obama has set the agenda that he wanted.

The problem is that there is little focus on reality.  Remember, Obama has been president for the last six years and the nation has followed his policies during that time.  Those policies have been a disaster for the middle class.  No matter how one looks at the past six years, there is no way to find anything good in them for the middle class.  Under Obama, the real median income in America has declined by about ten percent.  For all the talk from Obama about economic recovery, the average family has seen its annual income go DOWN by ten percent.  Obama wanted to raise taxes on the wealthy, and he got that a few years ago, but the average American saw his income decline.  Obama wanted to raise government spending, and he achieved that in dramatic fashion from the start of his presidency, but the average American has seen his income decline.  Obama wanted to take control of one-sixth of the economy that pertains to healthcare, and he got that in Obamacare, but the average American has seen his income decline.  In other words, the decline in family income for most Americans happened on Obama's watch and under Obama's policies.  Now, Obama acts as if he just came into office and has no responsibility for the past.  Remember, the last time that there was a decline like this in average income was during the great depression of the 1930s.  Obama really had to work at achieving the decline in income.  Now he wants to put additional policies in place which will intensify the damage.  (I do not think that Obama's goal is to damage the middle class, but that is the likely outcome.)

It truly is time for the Republicans in Congress to act responsibly and to come up with policies that will actually help middle income Americans.  They need to set their own agenda and to ignore the nonsense being pumped out by Obama.  The stakes are too high to let Obama and the media set another phony agenda.