I'd like to hope something different, but they won't change their behavior at all.
Errr, what would you hope for?
I would like them to move in the direction of Bill Clinton economically, favoring free trade and cutting deficits. Socially, I don't mind the Democrats being socially liberal, but I just wish they would do it in a less radical fashion. Liberal democrats still don't understand that they piss off a lot of people with talk about abortion. You can be pro-choice and still want towards ending abortion. Finally, on foreign policy, I'm obviously a hawk, so we should move towards a more interventionist foreign policy.
Well, I agree with you on most of that.
I think the long primary season and the necessity to pandering to liberals on the part of both Clinton and Obama has caused them to emphasize their protectionist rhetoric more than they would otherwise, as well as on economic issues in general. That has been the trend of the country in the past few years, and not all of it is coming from the Democratic party (see, Lou Dobbs). A large part of the new economic populism seems to be driven by insecurity that is a result of rising costs and inequality. In that sense, passing things like expanded health care coverage may actually decrease aversion to free trade, for example, because people will feel more secure ("If I am forced into a different job, at least I will still be covered.") However the candidates may be flexible on economic issues, a part of the base is not, which is unfortunate.
On abortion, I don't see that much extremist rhetoric coming from most liberals. Personally, I'm more of a stickler on Roe (which can be amended) than on abortion itself... there are serious moral issues to consider with abortion and they ought to be balanced against one another. So I can respect the pro-life position. On the other hand the real Roe decision was not Roe but Griswold, and overturning Griswold would have far-reaching legal consequences. The assault on Roe must fail because it is a hypocritical political attack in the guise of a legal argument, and if it succeeds there will be only more politicization of legal issues.
Finally, on foreign policy, I guess it depends what you mean by "hawk", but here again both candidates have had to pander to a left which sometimes stoops to using war issues as a wedge issue. Obama was able to hammer Hillary hard on Kyl-Lieberman, even though it was basically a resolution with little consequence. But even earlier on, you had Obama positioning himself as more hawkish in some areas, such as Pakistan. That rhetoric has now died down. Had the primary season ended long ago and the general election season started, the dynamics may have started to shift by now. As it is, we will see how the eventually nominee can emphasize his/her moderate credentials when the general begins.
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