People Party vs. Money Party: Who's Who Among the Democrats

Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) -- Leans People Party: As I detailed in a long piece for The Nation, Obama's instincts throughout his career have been to strongly side with the People Party against the Money Party. That is true, even if he also is more of a cautious Establishmentarian than a power-challenger -- and especially considering his recent moves to potentially push full public financing of congressional elections. However, he recently headlined the kickoff event for the so-called Hamilton Project -- the Wall Street backed front group whose goal is to undercut Democratic efforts to seriously reform America's trade policy. He additionally voted for the industry-written class action bill that limits citizens ability to seek legal redress against corporate abusers, he voted for the oil industry-written Energy Bill, he voted against legislation to crack down on exorbitant credit card interests rates, and he voted for the Oman Free Trade Agreement. In a presidential race, I believe Obama will more fully embrace the People Party both because it makes political sense and because I believe that's where his heart is. The question will be whether those two factors will outweigh the pressure he will face to join the Money Party and use his huge celebrity-driven microphone to push the Money Party's agenda -- pressures that may be responsible for his relative silence on major economic justice issues in his first two years in the Senate.