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Hillary Clinton is like Segolene Royal in that she was considered a centrist and neoliberal at the beginning of her campaign, yet now turns leftward in rhetoric. Additionally, she owes her popularity and clout largely to her husband's influence.
Barack Obama resembles Dominique Strauss Kahn. Both ran as "edgy" candidates who want to break from their party's left-wing past and embrace a new "modernizing" platform. This is the Blairist political current, in support of pro-business policies but with more of a cushion than the Republicans would like.
Al Gore reminds me of Laurent Fabius. Fabius in the past abandoned the Socialist Party's commitment to socialism during the 1980s so that France could integrate better with the European Community. Likewise, Gore joined the DLC and became a New Democrat, advocating NAFTA and communications deregulation. Fabius, though, ran as a Leftist in 2007 and had credibility because of his leading the "NO" vote on the EU Constitution. Similarly, Gore now has created the image that he is a true Democrat and not a DLCer, as he has earned credibility through his climate crisis talks, his recent book, and his early denunciation of the Iraq Invasion.
Like the Socialists, we the Democrats seem to be relying more on image and talk than on concrete policy. Maybe our hands are tied because of all our free trade agreements. Maybe not. I still see great similarities.
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