Before Obama, so were the Democrats.
I don't think that's true in any way. Clinton was good at pretending he was moderate, and had the good sense to act it out well after the debacle of Hillarycare.
The unfortunate truth is he grew the government big time while claiming the era of it was over, he ratcheted every part of the debate to the left, and never did anything that would hurt the radical leftist cause.
He more or less instituted the deep drift to the left in all things, and solidified the totalitarian leftist sense of entitlement in the bureaucracies. the bamster simply continued the march off the cliff, but was set up well by the Clinton machine.