THE THIRD WAY BATTLEGROUND:

The tax portion of Obama's approach is typically redistributive. Contrary to popular belief, many Republicans are open to raising additional revenue from the wealthy -- if it comes in the form of loophole-closing. Put another way, GOP leaders might accept taxes on consumption by the wealthy (say, by limiting the mortgage deduction for second homes), but they won't support additional taxes on savings and investment. Obama knows this. His proposal -- which includes an increase in the capital gains tax rate -- seems designed to make Republican support impossible.

Yet the new ideas found in the State of the Union speech -- increasing the child-care tax credit, providing additional help to make community college affordable, paid maternity leave -- are anything but boldly progressive. They are middle-sized proposals addressed to middle-class needs. They can be faulted for poor design or the manner in which they are funded. But they have none of the ideological ambition of the Affordable Care Act, or even Obama's plan for universal preschool education.

I recently faulted Obama for abandoning Bill Clinton's New Democrat ideology. But the policy approach taken in this year's State of the Union was distinctly Clintonian. Or at least Schumerian. Last year at the National Press Club, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) argued, "When Democrats focused on health care, the average middle-class person thought, 'The Democrats aren't paying enough attention to me.' " Obama's ­"middle-class economics" seems responsive to that critique.

Republicans have no choice but to contest this ground.

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