The latest AP/AOL poll shows that Americans are behind what what might be seen as a would-be Democratic agenda:

Two of the Democrats' top goals — a higher minimum wage and federal funding of embryonic stem cell research — enjoy broad public support as the party takes control of Congress for the first time in a dozen years.

An overwhelming majority also supports making it easier for people to buy prescription drugs from other countries.

On the surface, this sounds like good news. And yet one doesn't have to look back too far to see Democrats bending over backwards to appear as Republican as possible.

In the latest New York Review of Books, Elizabeth Drew notes:

In fact, K Street will not change a great deal even though the Democrats are in charge on Capitol Hill and Tom DeLay is gone. Democrats have their own K Street connections, and the lobbying firms, anticipating a Democratic win in November, had already begun recruiting more Democrats, and raising more money for the Democratic Party. The Republican lobbyists have no lack of business: they will now devote their efforts to trying to block new Democratic legislation that their clients oppose, such as lower drug prices in the prescription drug program, or elimination of tax breaks. The question is whether, like the Republicans, the Democrats will allow their own lobbyist allies to have the run of Capitol Hill, even letting them write bills there.

Lots of unknowns. Given the lackluster performance and deliberately vision-less stances on issues over the last six years of Congress, I'm not holding my breath for the time when Democrats stand up with any sort of leadership. Nancy Pelosi has been rather underwhelming so far, and Harry Reid manages to talk around and around issues without really saying much of anything.

Yet there will be new committee chairs, which hopefully will lead to some actual participation in the nation's business. On the other hand, with a third of the Senate looking at presidential bids, we might get more peacock feathers than turkey talk.

Lots of unknowns. We'll see.

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