No surprise that a populist progressive Democrat like me would like President Obama's State of the Union address that talked so much about lifting up the middle class. But there's a background story on getting to the president's message last night.

If the middle class engine isn't purring, the economic road to recovery will be bumpy at best. We need to do some big things to rebuild this economy for the long term.

Democrats across the country won this week because voters support elected officials who embrace this vision of prosperity economics. The president has said that economic policy must focus on rebuilding the middle class. Prosperity economics would deliver this promise.

While the middle class is losing faith, two Yale researchers say it doesn't have to be that way. In their plan, everyone benefits, but it's not a strategy likely to be adopted by Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan, who have never experienced the pain of economic insecurity.