Bashing rich doesn't work in post Reagan world

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/feb/16/us-wealth-gap-obama-tax-reform

Begin quote:
If there is one core attribute that makes ­Democrats Democrats, it is that they believe in government, which means you have to believe in taxes, which in turn means that you especially believe in taxing the incomes of the rich, which is only ­logical because, as the depression-era criminal ­Willie Sutton explained when asked why he robbed banks, "that's where the money is".

But comparatively few Democratic presidents have ever been thrilled about coming out and saying so. This reflects a supposed core truism about class in America, which is the old canard about how all or nearly all Americans believe that they someday just may be rich themselves. Therefore, for a ­politician to attack the rich is not merely to attack the approximately 1% of the people who actually are rich (with, let's say, a ­household income of more than $500,000 a year), but the 75% of people who think they will be. end quote.

I think this is what is actually going on with Obama. It is fostering the "American Dream". He can bash the Bankers and the corporations but if he begins to bash the individual rich who have won their American Dream, he also bashes the dreams of those who want to be rich too and believe they can some how some way. If he does that he undermines his position and begins to fail in a big way both as a President and as a World Leader.