Voters vs. the Democratic agenda

Matt Welch:

Progressive Democrats, after being outfoxed by Ronald Reagan, triangulated to the policy margins by Bill Clinton, then routed under the first six years of George W. Bush, are having many of the nostrums they championed during the wilderness years tested in the real world for the first time in decades. The initial results of this long-delayed peer review have been a shock to the progressive system.

Indeed, the proposed expansion of government intervention in the health care sector is now on life support, cap and trade is dead, the Orwellian-named Employee Free Choice Act -- aka "card check" -- cannot pass Congressional muster, and most voters think the stimulus bill was a tremendous waste of money. President Obama, the most prominent spokesman for the liberal agenda, sees his approval ratings plumbing new depths.

If any value can be mined from the first two years of the Obama Administration perhaps it is a simple reminder of what unvarnished liberalism looks like: payoffs to favored constituencies such as unions (despite the failure thus far to pass EFCA, killing school vouchers for DC children has been one of the Obama Administration's "successes"), increased taxes, higher spending and more regulation. What an expensive lesson.