Obama Retreating On Economic Inequality?

by JASmius

Another distraction from ObamaCare bites the dust - at least until its next turn in the rotation:

President Barack Obama and many Democrats are backing away from the subject of economic inequality, instead focusing more on economic "opportunity" and lifting the fortunes of the middle class.

The shift is a marked shift the president's reelection year stance in 2012, when he called inequality a "fundamental threat the American Dream," reports the Washington Post.

Because after two full years of flagellating that deceased equine, it still polls like what used to come plopping out the other end of it.

Instead, the new focus on issues like the gender pay gap and minimum wage reflects concerns of a more broad number of voters.

According to White House officials, Obama is more interested in ways to address inequality issues rather than the problem itself, but others say Democratic polling reveals that complaints about inequality don't really register with the public and lead to complaints about class warfare.

Or, in other words, they're not dropping their "income inequality" hyperventilating at all, they're just not going to call it that anymore, while continuing to flog Mr. Ed into discount Alpo.  Probably because Obamanomics exacerbates income inequality by destroying upward economic mobility, and because income inequality has grown four times faster under The One than it ever did under George W. Bush.

And maybe, just maybe, because the number of Americans who are onto that little fact, and are sick to the dry heaves of listening to O's class warfare garbage, is reaching a crystallization point.

Further, there is a dispute between the party's liberal and more moderate wings about the issue. The left seeks to focus on income gaps and the influence of Wall Street, but moderates call such issues divisive.

Because the "moderates" - i.e. Democrat incumbents from "red" states - would prefer that their political careers last longer than just another four months.

Obama this week invited top economists  to a private lunch at the White House, tapping a broad array of ideological views as he seeks to assemble an economic agenda for the remaining thirty months of his [second term].

Actually, O was just there for the lunch and to look important.  Besides, "pivoting to the economy" is what he always does when he gets bored.

The president has not been able to push his economic policies through the divided Congress, so he has been going beyond his White House economic team to search for ideas he can translate into executive actions or ways to nudge institutions and businesses to make changes that meet his economic goals.

Translation: He has his economic policies pretty much in place already, as evidenced by the final Q1 GDP number, but House Republicans are treasonously refusing to let him run up the score, so it's time to get out his pen and his phone again.

Makes you wonder if his putter and his joystick are getting lonely, doesn't it?