Does “from the middle out” in Obama campaign ad mean ‘to start (growth) from,” or “to help out” the middle class?

Solution 1:

The phrase “from the middle out” means to start the economic growth in the middle class and let it expand outward to the upper and lower classes. It definitely does not mean only the middle class.

Omitting the word "out" does not change the meaning much because the word "from" implies that the growth will go elsewhere. However it does change the sentence.

The word "out" specifies where the growth will go to -- from the middle class out to the other classes. We know the growth is going somewhere because of the word "from". The word "out" tells us where. The word "out" here I believe would be better replaced with the word "outward".

The word could be considered redundant because it specifies something we already know. However, I think he is using it to drive his point home that although he will grow the economy of the middle class, the growth will spread to the other two classes rather than to just one.

Solution 2:

Oishi-san, your first thought is correct. Obama is trying to contrast his approach with the Republican view that the economy should grow from the top down — i.e., that the wealthy, "job-creator" class is the author of all the prosperity in America. That view, when Reagan's people espoused it, was called "trickle-down" economics.

Obama's view is that without a strong, prosperous middle-class in America we are a nation of rich and poor.