Who is the most progressive on economic issues?

[jackson_dem]

-snip-

ACCORDING to conventional wisdom John Edwards is the protectionist among the Democrats' three leading presidential candidates, Hillary Clinton is the intellectual heir to (Bill's) Clintonomics, and Barack Obama will position himself somewhere between the two. Judging by their advisers and actions so far, the truth may be more complicated. Mr Edwards is running on the left flank, but less rabidly than many expected. And in some areas, notably trade policy, Mr Obama may be to the right of Mrs Clinton.

-snip-

Mrs Clinton has the opposite problem. The party's left, particularly the unions, worry that she will repeat her husband's embrace of globalisation. Her top advisers are mainly former Clinton administration officials. Gene Sperling, head of Bill Clinton's National Economic Council, and Roger Altman, a Wall Street financier and former deputy treasury secretary, are the mainstays. To counter this establishment reputation, Mrs Clinton has reached out to the left. Dick Gephardt, a former majority leader of the House of Representatives and a well-known trade sceptic, is an adviser. Mrs Clinton's trade rhetoric has been among the toughest of the candidates. She has talked of “a little timeout” before new trade deals are made—exactly what the party's left has been asking for.

-snip-

Mr Obama has carefully avoided any such rhetoric. His trade strategy, like much else, is still short on details. Like Mrs Clinton, he voted against the free-trade agreement with Central America. But judging by his latest book, Mr Obama is more concerned with helping people deal with globalisation than trying to slow it down. One trade wonk who knows both candidates says that Mr Obama is more of an instinctive free-trader than Mrs Clinton.

Judging by the advisers surrounding him, Mr Obama may end up with more market-oriented ideas elsewhere too. While the Clinton economic team is run by experienced practitioners, Mr Obama relies on his Senate staff and a growing group of young academics, all of whom have impeccable neoclassical credentials. At the centre is Mr Goolsbee, a 37-year-old public-finance whizz. Then there is David Cutler, a top health economist from Harvard, who focuses on changing incentives to improve the quality of health care. David and Christina Romer, a husband and wife team from Berkeley, advise on macroeconomic matters. Jeff Liebman, a labour and pensions expert at Harvard, also plays an important role. He is the co-author of a bipartisan Social Security reform plan that includes individual retirement accounts.

http://www.economist.com/world/na/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9163589

[jackson_dem]

1. Obamites and Hillarites have no opinion on who is more progressive?