I just returned from Cincinnati where I spent Thankgiving with family. Sadly, also in the Queen City, Goodyear has continued to show their workers how little they value their labor.

It really struck me that this is exactly where progressives/populists need to be drawing the battle lines. Not only is it the right thing to do, but as Sherrod Brown and Ted Strickland showed in their very successful populist campaigns, if Democrats want to win again in Ohio, they must once again prove they are on the side of working Americans.

The Akron based Goodyear has cut jobs, wages, healthcare and pensions for years while making millionaires out of corporate humps who suck off the tete of actual labor they would never lower themselves to do. And hey, why bother when the continual flow of increased salaries and perks makes it more likely they'll see Fiji for the second time this year than an actual factory floor.

Now they want to close a plant in Tyler, Texas and can 1,100 workers, after posting their highest profits in seven years and of course giving out huge bonuses to old, fat, balding white guys with names like Chip.

The AFL-CIO has joined the battle, and frankly, this is the kind of fight progressives should be using to define the real "center" of American politics over the next generation.