海角大神

Sen. Charles Schumer, a key player in crafting the Democrats鈥� message to voters, has put out an idea for 2016 that portends a steep climb for Democrats: Embrace government, don鈥檛 run from it.

In a speech at the National Press Club聽on Tuesday, the New York senator said that 鈥渢he public knows in its gut鈥� that only a strong and united government 鈥渃an reverse the middle class decline and help revive the American Dream.鈥�

Senator Schumer argued that only government is strong enough to shield Americans from the destructive forces of technology and globalization 鈥� not that government should try to stop those forces, but that it should help people adapt to them and thrive. 聽

It is an age-old stand that needs vigorous backing, in Schumer鈥檚 view. Democrats should start by convincing Americans that government is on their side 鈥� not acting on behalf of special interests, he charged. Then the party needs to lay out a pro-government plan to motivate the base and win back white working class voters who abandoned them in 2014.

But at every step, this path will be a challenging one.

First, a gut check. Polls paint a different picture about Americans鈥� views of government than Schumer does.聽The 2014 midterm election聽聽showed that a majority of voters (54 percent) believe that the 鈥済overnment is doing too many things better left to businesses and individuals,鈥� while just 41 percent think 鈥渢he government should do more to solve problems,鈥澛燭he Washington Post reported.

From Gallup to the Pew Research Center, 2014 polls show Americans鈥� trust of government at historic lows.

Second, about those special interests. While liberal Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D) of Massachusetts champions consumers even as she charges at Wall Street, on Capitol Hill, Schumer is known as 鈥淲all Street Chuck,鈥澛�. He has raised millions for Democrats from the financial sector, which he oversees as a member of the Senate Banking Committee.

鈥淐huck Schumer taking on special interests is like Kim Kardashian taking on media hype,鈥� says John Pitney, a congressional expert and professor at Claremont McKenna College in California. 鈥淭he likely 2016 presidential nominee is Hillary Clinton, who is also no stranger to Wall Street.鈥�

Third, Democrats had a pro-government middle-class plan, and they still lost the Senate.聽The plan, called a 鈥淔air Shot鈥� agenda, included raising the minimum wage, pay-equity for women, and affordable student loans. Its chief architect? Schumer.

He defended it vigorously. 鈥淭he best thing we had going for us was the Fair Shot agenda and we need to do more of it,鈥� he told reporters after the speech,聽听苍别飞蝉辫补辫别谤.

Schumer pointed to two red states 鈥� Alaska and Arkansas 鈥� that passed increases in the state minimum wage. He he referenced the most recent NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll after the election that said the three most popular things that Congress could do next year were to provide access to lower-cost student loans, increase spending on infrastructure, and raise the minimum wage 鈥� all government actions.

This year鈥檚 elections, he said, was not 鈥渁 repudiation of government鈥� per se, but of government ineptness 鈥� in the rollout of the Affordable Care Act (and even in the timing of its passage), in the Department of Veterans Affairs, at the southern border, with the Islamic State. When government 鈥渕esses up,鈥� Democrats can lose, he said 鈥� obviously putting the blame on the administration.

Schumer is 鈥渢rying to thread a needle,鈥� says Ross Baker, a professor of political science at Rutgers University in Brunswick, N.J. In an email, he writes that the senator is 鈥渂uilding聽the case for vigorous government while acknowledging its past failures and pinning those failures on a lame duck president.鈥�