The populist revival

Over at Politico, Martin Kady II and Victoria McGrane echo a theme that columnist David Sirota has been hammering at for months (years, actually): the revival of populist politics.

It's not unusual for Democrats to try on a little populism in an election year (think Gore in 2000), but Kady and McGrane note that the populist themes being put forward by Sens. Clinton and Obama -- and even Mike Huckabee -- are spilling over into the broader political debate:

Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton have for months touted an unabashed message of economic populism, and now Democratic leaders in Congress have begun to fall in line with an economic agenda that leaves behind the centrist principles of the Clinton years.

The Democrats' newfound comfort level with stronger government intervention in the economy will be on full display this week in both chambers of Congress. In the House, Democrats will force votes on an energy bill that raises taxes on big oil by rolling back $18 billion in subsidies and tax breaks pushed through by the last Republican Congress. In the Senate, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has called votes on a sweeping housing bill that includes a provision - vehemently opposed by the mortgage industry - to allow judges to unilaterally restructure certain mortgages to create friendlier terms for homeowners facing foreclosure.

Rep. Tom Feeney (R-Fla.) sees what, for him, is a terrifying new economic agenda on the horizon:

"Democrats are trying to establish a second New Deal - more regulations, progressive taxation ..."

To which progressives likely respond, "if only."

But it is clear there are new openings to talk about populist themes. The trend is especially important for Southern politics; populist themes resonate well in the South.

Is the populist revival just a fad? The business types quoted in Kady and McGrane's piece blame election-year pandering, a more likely explanation is the fact that two-thirds of the U.S. public thinks we're already in a recession, with no end in sight.