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By Perry Bacon Jr.

Message to Hillary Clinton: focus on wage stagnation and income inequality in 2016, or lose.

At the annual conference of the Center for American Progress, the liberal think tank with close ties to both the Clintons and the Obama administration, some of the Democrats leading policy strategists and politicians almost universally agreed that offering specific policies to boost the income of middle-class Americans is the issue the party must confront in 2016.

There was little direct talk of Clintons candidacy at the event on Wednesday. But the conference was full of criticism of the partys message in 2014, which these Democrats felt was both overly cautious and too focused on issues like gender pay equity and the minimum wage instead of broader economic challenges. They urged a different approach in 2016, when Clinton is widely expected to be the Democrats presidential nominee.

"The issue that is going to animate the election is the wage squeeze, stagnant wages mixed with higher costs"

We need a message .... that as a Democratic Party, this is what were committed to. Were committed to higher wages, were committed to opportunity for everybody to share in the economy, said Ted Strickland, the former Ohio governor, who is now a top advisor at CAP.

There are clear conclusions you can draw from this election [2014] and apply to 2016, at all levels: It is to have a clear, blunt, progressive economic message, relentlessly put it out, and be willing to talk about the changes we need to do in our economy and our society to actually address what is a declining middle class, said New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, who participated in a question and answer session at the conference.

Neera Tanden, who has served as an policy aide to both Obama and Clinton and is now CAPs president, argued the wage stagnation had become such a big problem that candidates from both parties will need to address it in 2016.

The issue that is going to animate the election is the wage squeeze, stagnant wages mixed with higher costs, said Tanden. My own view is that whoever is running is going to have to figure out a way to address that, on the Republican and the Democratic side, because it is the issue that is causing the most anxiety.

Wage stagnation, these Democrats say, is the equivalent of the Iraq War and health care reform in 2007. Back then, Democratic activists demanded Clinton, Obama and the partys other candidates offer specific plans to get the U.S out of Iraq and create some kind of near-universal health system. There will be a similar pressure to offer proposals on the middle-class squeeze for Clinton or any other candidate.

Read more here:
Key Dems say Wage Stagnation is the Issue for 2016 Campaign