Dealing with Obama’s second term is made more difficult by liberals' assumption that he is one of them. In fact, Obama and Clinton are the most conservative of any Democratic presidents since Woodrow Wilson. The Democrats now in Congress represent a similar move to the right.
If this sounds exaggerated, consider these excerpts from a summary of the Clinton years by Conservapedia, a rightwing response to Wikipedia:
The Democratic Leadership Council formed in early 1985 to formulate a moderate Democratic agenda . . . comprised mostly Southern Democratic congressmen. . . They wanted to assure voters that the moderate-conservative wing of the party was alive and well, and that its policy initiatives fit with mainstream American values. After the 1988 defeat, [Al] From asked Clinton become the first DLC Chair from outside Washington…The conservative bias of Obama – witness his distaste for civil liberties and his willingness to help troubled banks more than troubled homeowners – is not as well hidden by the media, but large numbers of liberals still don’t understand that their hero is a Democratic rightwinger, one, in fact, who was carefully vetted by the conservative Democratic Leadership Council so he could make his way towards the White House.
Proposals that found their way into Clinton's 1992 platform included… government-subsidized individual savings accounts for Social Security….
Clinton campaigned as a "New Democrat," with an appeal to southerners and moderates that included demands for welfare reform and support for the death penalty….
In 1993 President Clinton sought to increase taxes on Social Security benefits of the elderly and disabled….
In 1999 President Clinton proposed investing the Social Security Trust Fund in what some might consider "risky" assets in the stock market and bonds….
Clinton also signed off the disastrous repeal of the Glass-Seigel Act that kept Wall Street banking and gambling separate and he weakened public welfare.
The corporate media is unlikely to mention it, but among the major targets, past and present, of the modern Democratic right are programs that represent the best progress its party had achieved over the past 80 years.
Yes, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren are on your side, but don’t count on too many more.
This is the first of series on things to do now.
