A spectre is apparently haunting America - the spectre of "populism". "New populism spurs Democrats on the economy," cried the front page headline in The New York Times the other day. Republicans rail against unseemly "class warfare", while centrist Democrats fret that hard-edged populist appeals will spook suburban voters.

"It is not unusual," The New York Times explained, "for candidates seeking the Democratic presidential nomination to move left in the primary season." However, rhetoric aside, there is little reason to view today's supposedly wild-eyed Democrats as "populist" or "leftwing" at all.