I'm wondering if the message they took away from What's The Matter With Kansas is that they need to ape the Reps on the cultural issues - not that they should adopt a populist economic agenda.
[WS:] This would not surprise me at all. The Democrat politics seem to be consultant-driven - talking points, a laundry list of "hot button" issues as revealed by opinion polls and focus groups, risk aversion and going through established routes -- and that it the expense of a Big Picture, Vision, and Popular Appeal. I think similar argument is voiced by George Lakoff in _Do Not Think of an Elephant_ but it seems that Professor Lakoff lost the Democratic Party's ear to Washington consultocracy.
In any case, the Dems strike me as a mainstay of boring, unappealing and myopic mediocrity, no matter what they politics are - if any.
Wojtek