(C) Common Dreams
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Opinion | This Is Not How Pete Buttigieg Wanted to Visit Ohio [1]
['Gail Collins', 'Bret Stephens']
Date: 2023-02-27
Gail Collins: Bret, Democratic strategists are worried about hanging on to support in the working class. The good news, from my perspective, is that it looks like the big problem is economic concerns, not cultural ones.
Saying that’s good news because the Biden administration can respond to those worries by pointing to a ton of effort to create jobs and fight inflation.
Guessing you may, um, disagree?
Bret Stephens: In the immortal words of the “Airplane” sequel: “Just a tad.”
The big problem for Democrats is that their economic message — that happy times are here again — isn’t landing in the places where they need to win, particularly factory towns where elections in states like Wisconsin or Ohio are sometimes decided. Inflation is still too high and probably means the Fed will continue to raise interest rates. Unemployment is low in part because so many people have dropped out of the labor force. Years of lax border control creates a perception that cheap immigrant labor will further undercut working-class wages. And a lot of the projects that President Biden’s spending bills are supposed to fund will take years to get off the ground because there’s rarely such a thing as a “shovel-ready” project.
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[1] Url:
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/27/opinion/buttigieg-ohio-carter-teenagers-depression.html
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