Henry Olsen, a vice president at the American Enterprise Institute, has some words of wisdom for the Republican party in the Weekly Standard: White working-class voters are important, and last week's elections show that "the GOP marriage with the white working class is on the rocks."

The reason?

As in any troubled relationship, the cause of the GOP’s difficulties is simple: failure to listen to the other’s needs. On issue after issue, the opinions of the GOP’s conservative base are out of step with those of white working-class independents. Rather than grasp this fact, however, many Republican political leaders have listened solely to the base and ignored the other partner in the marriage.

Wow. That suggests Olsen is saying establishment Republicans should pay attention to Ohio voters' rejection of union-busting. He also observes, correctly, that white working-class independents think the economy is more important than the deficit, want to raise taxes on the rich, and don't want to cut entitlements like Social Security and Medicare. If the American Enterprise Institute and Weekly Standard started taking those positions seriously, it would be a bombshell.

Not so fast, though. His answer does not involve any drastic measures like the Republican establishment changing its own positions. Rather, "Conservative Republicans need to understand why white working-class independents disagree with them. They need to see if there is a way to bring the white working class on board." So, understand why people disagree with you so that you can trick them into voting for you without changing your behaviors that they don't like.

Contrast this with the approach taken by Working America in a new report (PDF) on working-class voters and the 2012 elections. First, it's working-class voters, not just white working-class voters. (See if you can imagine where Olsen might be going with "focus on white working-class voters, but not by agreeing with them on economic issues.") Second, where Olsen notes positions on which (white) working-class independents differ from the Republican base, Working America puts those positions in context. People want to tax the rich because they see that the rich are sucking up more and more of the money in this country; they don't want to sacrifice Social Security and Medicare because those are crucial to their survival; they know that jobs are more important to the nation's economy than the deficit.

Basically, Working America and Henry Olsen of the American Enterprise Institute and Weekly Standard are in agreement on the importance of working-class voters. They're in agreement that working-class voters think jobs and Social Security are more important than the deficit and the top 1 percent should be paying more taxes. Where they disagree is that Olsen and the conservative establishment he represents want to recognize those views and then, as quickly as possible, erase them. Working America and the labor movement it is a part of want to turn those views into action and policy.