Yes, the Democrats had an economic message. No, they didn't forget the middle and working class.
It's worth saying again in the face of the array of post-November 8th claims that the Democrats simply had no economic message and didn't acknowledge the anguish of the American worker.
Here are a few links to what actually got out and, in some cases, covered, but please feel free to add others.
First, coverage of Hillary Clinton's campaign from almost a year back:
[url]https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2015/12/08/clinton-proposes-new-manufacturing-incentives-crackdown-on-corporate-inversions/?utm_term=.227b269eaec2[/url]
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is adding to her package of economic revitalization plans this week with new tax incentives aimed at boosting American manufacturing and penalties for businesses that try to avoid taxes through offshore mergers.
Clinton was outlining her manufacturing proposal on Tuesday in New Hampshire, and will discuss ways to discourage so-called corporate “inversions” during stops on Wednesday in Iowa. Those two states hold the first 2016 presidential selection contests in February.
Both plans are part of a detailed set of proposals intended to improve the bottom line for the middle class, whose declining fortunes Clinton has made the organizing principle of her second run for the White House.
So we've gone from "organizing principle" to the claim that HRC did nothing at all.
Second, Hillary Clinton's comments on the coal industry, which were lifted out of context and mischaracterized as an attack on the miners when in fact her focus was on addressing their long-term economic prospects. And she didn't stop with concerns in coal country, either.
[url]http://cnnpressroom.blogs.cnn.com/2016/03/13/full-rush-transcript-hillary-clinton-partcnn-tv-one-democratic-presidential-town-hall/[/url]
Look, we have serious economic problems in many parts of our country. And Roland is absolutely right. Instead of dividing people the way Donald Trump does, let's reunite around policies that will bring jobs and opportunities to all these underserved poor communities. So for example, I'm the only candidate which has a policy about how to bring economic opportunity using clean renewable energy as the key into coal country. Because we're going to put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business, right, Tim? And we're going to make it clear that we don't want to forget those people. Those people labored in those mines for generations, losing their health, often losing their lives to turn on our lights and power our factories. Now we've got to move away from coal and all the other fossil fuels, but I don't want to move away from the people who did the best they could to produce the energy that we relied on. So whether it's coal country or Indian country or poor urban areas, there is a lot of poverty in America. We have gone backwards. We were moving in the right direction. In the '90s more people were lifted out of poverty than any time in recent history. Because of the terrible economic policies of the Bush administration, President Obama was left with the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, and people fell back into poverty because they lost jobs, they lost homes, they lost opportunities, and hope. So I am passionate about this, which is why I have put forward specific plans about how we incentivize more jobs, more investment in poor communities, and put people to work.
The 2016 Democratic platform addressed economic and specifically infrastructure concerns in multiple parts of the country, including rural areas. And there are proposals concerning poverty, including the problem of hunger.
[url]https://www.demconvention.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Democratic-Party-Platform-7.21.16-no-lines.pdf[/url]
Democrats will spur investment to power the rural economy. We support strengthening rural
water, sewer, and broadband infrastructure to make rural businesses more competitive. We will
expand access to equity capital for businesses and expand the New Markets Tax Credit to better
serve rural small businesses. We will promote collaborative stewardship of our natural resources,
while developing clean fuels that will grow our economy, lower our energy bills, combat climate
change, and make America the clean energy superpower of the 21st century. We will provide
assistance to producers who conserve and improve natural resources on their farms and double
loan guarantees that support the bio-based economy’s dynamic growth.
We reaffirm our commitment to eliminate poverty. Democrats will develop a national strategy,
coordinated across all levels of government, to combat poverty. We will direct more federal
resources to lifting up communities that have been left out and left behind, such as the 10-20-30
model, which directs 10 percent of program funds to communities where at least 20 percent of
the population has been living below the poverty line for 30 years or more. We will also focus on
communities that suffer from persistent poverty, including empowerment zones and areas that
targeted government data indicate are in persistent poverty.
In the richest country in the world, no one, especially our children, should go hungry. This is
why Democrats will protect proven programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance
Program (SNAP)—our nation's most important anti-hunger program—that help struggling
families put food on the table. We will also help people grow their skills through jobs and skills
training opportunities. The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) program should be expanded for
low-wage workers not raising children, including extending the credit to young workers starting
at age 21. The Child Tax Credit (CTC) should be expanded, for example, by making more of it
refundable, or indexed to inflation to stem the erosion of the credit.
As for the House Democrats, they've had a focus on wages, manufacturing, and other grass-roots economic concerns for years.
[url]https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/2chambers/post/house-democrats-re-launch-make-it-in-america-manufacturing-jobs-agenda/2011/05/04/AFy0ylqF_blog.html?utm_term=.bd37ff732e05[/url]
At a Capitol news conference, House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), the program’s architect, joined with more than a dozen members of the House Democratic caucus to announce the agenda, which includes more than 30 pieces of legislation or legislative agenda items.
“Our premise is that America has been and continues to be the land of opportunity,” Hoyer said Wednesday. “Americans psychologically are saying, ‘We’re not on the right track. We’re not doing what we ought to be doing.’ And we want to make sure that, as their forebears who came to America and thought that they could make it in America, they too can make it in America, and their families can make it in America.”
The way to do that, Hoyer continued, is “to create an environment and policies that encourage and realize that we make ‘it’ — products, agricultural products as well — that we make goods in America.”
The plan is comprised of several items — many of which have been previously promoted by House Democrats — including the creation of a national infrastructure development bank; reform of the corporate tax code; an expansion of the research and development tax credit; and patent and currency reform.
Of course the House was then controlled by the Republicans, so none of that was going to move. But to say there was no focus on economic issues affecting the middle and working class is to rewrite history.
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