I began Thomas Frank’s new book, Listen, Liberal, this weekend. How interesting. It has hooked me in the first few pages. I’ve read much about the Democratic Party–its future, its faults. But this book is adding much to the conversation.

Among other things, I appreciate his putting the Obama administration in the context of his argument. I find it hard sometimes to place the Obama years in historical context, given how close I feel to that era.

This quote from the book is very interesting and really rings true to me:

“After I spoke, a firefighter from Seattle picked up the microphone. Workers had been watching their standard of living get whittled away for decades, he said, and up till now they had always been able to come up with ways to get by. The first adjustment…was when women entered the workforce…Next, people ran up debt on their credit cards. Then, in the last decade, people began…borrowing against their houses…But now all three coping mechanisms were at an end…still wages sank.”