Some people are befuddled by the Democrats failure to stand up for themselves and “take control of the narrative.” A lot of pundits feel the Dems did themselves a disservice running from President Obama’s record–and that they didn’t explain well enough to the American people how good things are. Poppycock, says Robert Reich, author and former Secretary of Labor.
People don’t need to be told the narrative of their own lives. The fact is that “median household income continues to drop,” Reich writes. That’s the story. Too many jobs are part-time and don’t pay. People are struggling and no amount of narrative massage changes that. Reich says that the “recovery” is a technicality that doesn’t help 90% of Americans. “100 percent of the gains have gone to the best-off 10 percent. Ninety-five percent have gone to the top 1 percent.” What the Democrats didn’t communicate was that they understood “the economy is failing most Americans and big money is overrunning our democracy.” That’s the story. That’s what people voted to change. They weren’t given very good choices to vote for, but they certainly couldn’t keep voting for the way things are.
