When DMI surveyed middle-class Americans this summer, we found almost no one concerned about taxes. 46% said the economy and jobs were a top concern (the Bush record suggests tax cuts do a lousy job of addressing those worries), 35% were preoccupied with gas prices (despite McCain’s efforts to sell us otherwise, tax cuts wouldn’t have helped there either). The War in Iraq, health care, national security, education, immigration… all ranked higher than taxes. The bottom line? Just 4% of middle-class Americans thought taxes were a top issue facing the country.

So why do tax cuts persist in taking center stage in both campaigns? For Obama, it looks like a defensive action. He expected to get painted with the brush of a tax-and-spend Democrat and worked proactively to head off the accusation. But in the process, his campaign inevitably feeds into that same tired tax-cuts-solve-everything/all-taxes-are-bad chestnut.

The fact may be that we can’t expect presidential campaigns – which after all, must focus on winning elections – to reorient our nation’s political dialogue. Instead, it’s up to progressives to start laying the groundwork now so that next election, and the one after that, we’re not still stuck with a political conversation that begins and ends with who wants to raise your taxes. Let’s get to work.