Proposal by proposal, Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama are constructing policy agendas that present their party with mirror-image choices.

On domestic policy, Obama has shown much greater willingness than Clinton to challenge liberal orthodoxy and the powerful Democratic interest groups that defend it. On national security, though, Clinton has pushed against the party’s left-of-centre consensus while Obama has embraced it. One candidate offers conformity at home and apostasy abroad; the other, the opposite.

Obama has taken greater risks than Clinton across a broad range of domestic issues. When asked by ABC News in May whether the long-term solvency of social security might require benefit cuts or tax increases, he sensibly replied that “everything should be on the table.” Clinton at first appeared to rule out both benefit cuts and tax increases, before insisting she won’t tip her hand on social security until she’s in the White House.

When the two candidates spoke in March to commemorate the 1965 Selma, Ala., civil-rights march, it was Obama, not Hillary Clinton, who echoed Bill Clinton in insisting that new measures to expand opportunity must be coupled with greater personal responsibility in the inner city. After releasing an impressively comprehensive energy plan last week, Obama exceeded all of his rivals in acknowledging that the shift toward a low-carbon economy will raise electricity prices. And although both Obama and Clinton have bent towards teachers union pressure by unduly criticising the tests used to measure student performance, Obama has challenged the unions by proposing to link teacher pay to student achievement.

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