Well Disguised

Matthew Yglesias links to the New Republic's Well Disguised article (I provided a free link) and points out how Bush sounds like a liberal New Dealer:

Bush is more-or-less the reverse, a faux liberal. If you listen to his speeches, you would believe that his agenda consists of making the tax code fairer to people of modest means, improving the environment, expanding access to affordable health care, strenghtening New Deal/Great Society entitlement programs, and ending poverty. The fact that he isn't doing those things does, of course, matter. But the fact that he feels a need to pretend to be doing those things also matters. It shows that, roughly speaking, Bill Clinton succeeded in rehabilitating liberalism, even if he left office with the Democratic Party 100 percent out of power. The GOP has only been able to succeed by consistently adopting a pose of liberalism. This is a significant achievement, in and of itself, even if it would also be nice to win elections.

Even with all the recent backlash it's important to remind ourselves from time to time that liberals have still won most of the fights. Despite attempts to push back mankind and America are still becoming ever more liberal, just as George Washington hoped.