There's an interesting
article by Joe Klein in the archives at Slate that analyzes Bob Shrum and his lack of success in advising presidential candidates.
I'm normally disinclined to like what he writes, but in light of the discussions flying around the blogosphere recently, I think Klein's discussion of various types of populism merits discussion.
Klein suggests that economic populism, which he calls "Shrum's hobbyhorse," is "consistently overvalued," and has become a drag on Democratic candidates.
He then says:
If there is a victorious Democratic model, it is a politician who combines patriotic optimism with the promise to support individual initiative and demand corporate responsibility, as Franklin Roosevelt and Bill Clinton did. Formulations that use the word "against," as in "the people against the powerful," just aren't very successful in America.
Is Klein right? If so, who is that candidate?