Talking About What We Should Be Talking About

A maddening thing about the "we need to talk about kitchen table issues" tic is that it's almost entirely a meta conversation, with lead Democrats going on TV and saying it's what they need to talk about instead of actually talking about it. 

Jeffries on Sunday, the relevant bits:

Leader Jeffries, thank you for being here. Let me get right at what you were saying, because I also heard you say that Republicans are breaking the economy and will own all of the damage that is being done to the American people. So, what are Democrats going to do about it?

JEFFRIES: Well, we're going to continue to make clear that the cost of living in the United States of America is too high. Donald Trump and Republicans promised to lower the cost of living. In fact, on day one, costs aren't going down. They are going up. And they are crashing the economy in real time and, in fact, driving us toward a recession.

Democrats have a different vision. We want to build an affordable economy for hardworking American taxpayers, and we're ready to work with anyone in good faith to get that done. But that's not occurring in the Congress right now, which is why things are heading in a bad direction.

KARL: But let me ask you about a Gallup poll that came out recently, asking people how much confidence they have in various people to -- to deal with the economy. And Donald Trump only -- you know, 44 percent have a great deal or fair amount of confidence, but that was -- GOP leaders were next, the Fed Chairman, the Speaker of the House. And when you get down to the bottom, Democratic leaders Chuck Schumer down at the bottom. You had only 30 percent.

So, what do Democrats have to do to convince the American people that they have a better plan on the economy than the Republicans?

JEFFRIES: Well, this week, we'll be having a cost of living week of action, and we have to continue to talk to the American people about our plans. We recognize that housing costs are too high, grocery costs are too high, utility costs are too high, childcare costs are too high, insurance costs are too high. America is too expensive.

Now, Donald Trump is the president. And in terms of his approval as it relates to the economy, it was his biggest strength on January 20th. Now, it's his greatest weakness.

There are a variety of different polls that are out there, including most recently a Morning Consult poll, that showed that Congressional Democrats were actually trusted more than Congressional Republicans on the economy for the first time in four years.

We're going to continue to press our case on the economy, continue to press our case on protecting and strengthening Social Security, which is what we are committed to do. Republicans are trying to detonate Social Security as we know it. And certainly, we're going to protect the healthcare of the American people.

The only "plan" here is defending the status quo! Which is important at the moment!  But that was basically the November 2024 message also!  

We are going to keep talking about our plans, he says, while not taking a prime opportunity to talk about those plans.