"Rafts of proposals" like that helped destroy the middle class in the first place.
The middle class used to be able to afford things like college, housing, and health care until the government stepped in "to make it affordable."
The flood of government money into these markets naturally drove prices up as everybody scrambled to get their share of the booty. In a short time, the government drove the prices so high that only the very rich (like just about every federal politician) can afford these things without government assistance.
They fitted everybody with yokes, as intended.
Lenin said it: To achieve communism, we must first destroy the bourgeoisie.
And Obama is following the recipe'.