Details here. Some of these policies are worth supporting: Tax credits to promote retirement saving and automatic enrollment in IRAs are both ideas I’ve written in favor of. But the proposal to double the child-care tax credit is a mistake. Republicans should instead increase the child credit, so that parents can get help with the cost of raising families whether or not their kids use commercial day care — an option most parents want to avoid.

The administration’s initiative reflects an awareness that it is losing middle-class support. But on this issue its policy has a natural appeal only to a small part of that class. Conservatives can outflank Obama on this issue and should.