In my own opinion the heart of Obama’s popularity amongst the hardcore Dems is the fact that his rhetoric does NOT promise “change” but rather the reverse. Same old “soak the rich” taxation, military retreat, welfare for all, mo’ money for public schools and so on.
I carefully listened to his New Hampshire concession speech and it was all there—with an obligatory middle-class tax cut line thrown in. Just like Our Bill the moment he is sworn in, he will suddenly find out we cannot afford a tax cut. Liberals are reassured that he promises a back-to-the-future administration.
Actually, I think Obama's more a throwback to McGovern (the same silly, young idiots support him). McGovern and Obama actually believe in socialism and that we could end the [Cold] War [on Terror] if we just tried to understand our adversaries better and stopped provoking reasonable people into war with us.
OTOH, I don't think Bill Clinton ever gave a hoot. He was about power and could just as easily have become a Republican. But when he started, power in Arkansas came by being a democrat. So he was a democrat.
The adulation Obama gets from the youngsters reminds me a little of the Eugene McCarthy run in 1968. But going further with that comparison would be to insult a pretty good man. He was wrong on the war but not an empty suit like Obama.