Acknowledging class was always difficult for New Democrats – it was second-wave, it was divisive – but 2008 made retro politics cool again. – Thomas Frank
Former President Bill Clinton, who is widely regarded as a political mastermind, may have sounded like a traditional liberal at the beginning of his term in office. But what ultimately defined his presidency was his amazing pliability on matters of principle. – Thomas Frank
Liberal that I am, I support health-care reform on its merits alone. My liberal blood boils, for example, when I read that half of the personal bankruptcies in this country are brought on, in part, by medical expenses. – Thomas Frank
As you may recall, Truman was extremely unpopular when he finally left Washington in 1953, thanks largely to the Korean War. Today, however, he is thought to have been a solidly good president, a Near Great even, in the terminology of those surveys of historians they do every now and then. – Thomas Frank