Tax-rate class warfare backfiring on Democrats?

(By Ed Morrissey, Hot Air) - Democrats hoped to drive a wedge in the electorate with some class-warfare rhetoric on tax hikes coming at the end of the year, painting the GOP as the party of the rich and themselves as the defenders of the middle class. The Boston Globe reports that the strategy has begun to backfire, thanks to Democrats breaking ranks and the lack of any action at all before the House recess. Instead of looking like class warriors for the average Joe, they look instead like a pack of incompetents:

President Obama’s urgent call for Congress to immediately extend tax breaks for the middle class was supposed to create a defining Democratic issue and cast Republicans as defenders of the rich on the eve of crucial midterm elections. Now, three weeks later, Democrats are further divided and Republicans are using the tax cut issue to their advantage.

The House and Senate adjourned last night, leaving the central pocketbook issue to be decided after the Nov. 2 midterm elections — and just weeks before the tax cuts are set to expire. That indecision injects more uncertainty into whose taxes will go up, and by how much. …

The tax cut extension is expected to remain a political issue over the next few weeks, but not in the way Democrats had initially intended. Rather than using it on the campaign trail against Republicans, Democrats could find themselves on the defensive as the GOP yesterday began framing the vote delay as an example of government ineptitude and cowardice.