General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: For Democrats to recover, ALL left-of-center people should be made welcome in the party. [View all]radius777
(3,635 posts)Clintonism/3rd-way/center-left style politics are well in line with the history of the party, which has always been about adapting to the times and putting forth policies that help the middle class.
FDR only shifted farther left on economics due to the depression, and was needed in those times due to lack of any social safety net. Both Truman and FDR were center-right on foreign policy. JFK was a centrist liberal on most issues (who often challenged the left, i.e. "ask not what your country can do for you" , and Bill Clinton modeled himself around his hero JFK.
Clintonism saved the party (and led to the election of the first PoC in Obama) by appealing more to the vast center of America politics, where voters are concerned with everyday/pragmatic concerns, and far less with ideological purity.