The ‘overhyped' income inequality talking point

The president's theme of "income inequality" is not gaining the traction the administration had hoped.

Anxious to move the narrative away from the widely unpopular Obamacare fiasco, the drumbeat of "income inequality" seemed a popular notion.

The president had even called this new theme the "defining challenge of our times" with the appropriate bravado and accompanying applause.

But something strange happened when the president spoke to the nation last week. The issue of "income inequality" was not the central point of the address as expected. The words were mentioned and the symbolic increase in the minimum wage for those involved in future federal contracts was sounded.

Most political pundits were left scratching their heads.

And now we know why.

A presidential pollster told a gathering of Democratic strategists over the weekend that "attention to the issue of income inequality has been a bit overhyped."

A bit overhyped?

As in exaggerated for political gain?

One Internet sage said the issue should not be income inequality but rather productivity inequality.

Those in our society who produce results -- in a variety of ways -- should be rewarded.

The president and his cronies see leveling the field as taking from the producers and transferring in countless ways to the lower or nonproducers.

But increasingly, the public is not buying into the idea of an all-powerful central government run by executive order. And they're wondering about the loss of freedom, opportunity and the ability to achieve upward status through hard work, determination and above all, sacrifice.

If this is indeed to be the "year of action" as the president and Congress have touted, we'd better start with some issues on which there is a hope of common ground.

If we have 50 million or so Americans on food stamps, a few million unemployed and a few million more who have given up on the job search, this is a far distance from the hope and change that was promised.

I take that back. Those numbers do indeed reflect change.

But not so much hope.

Michael Jensen is the publisher of the Sikeston Standard Democrat.