A Golden Opportunity
Like Neil at Ezra Klein’s place, I think 2008 represents a golden opportunity for progressive change, and I’m afraid the Democrats will piss it away. I also, like Neil, think the likelihood of Edwards pissing it away is considerably smaller than Clinton (obviously), but also Obama.
Edwards has gone way to the left since the last primaries, probably out of conviction, esp. since lots of people have, but presumbably also to some extent because he, correctly I think, believes the political situation has changed. Most other candidates, including Obama, doesn’t. Obama is no populist, and hasn’t endorsed any bold or risky policies. The way you run your campaign will shape your presidency, but more importantly, what a candidate’s think is a winning political strategy will influence their presidencies as much as their idea good policy if they become president.
There are reasons to strongly prefer Edwards, even though Obama isn’t obviously less progressive in his beliefs. (I think he at least is more of a esablishmentarian.)
Clinton, meanwhile, I suspect of being a bit of a DLC ideologue, who won’t be too leftist even if she thinks it’s good politics. More clearly, she’ll be very inflexible in her beliefs of what’s a winning formula, even in the face of mounting evedence the 90s are in fact over.