It's Like the '90s Never Happened

Bill Clinton ascended to the White House as a New Democrat, wisely repudiating what had been a quarter-century of big-government liberalism and embracing instead welfare reform, deficit reduction, spending restraint, a strong and noninflationary dollar, and free trade. One might thus expect "Back to Work" to be a sharp condemnation of Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and, of course, Barack Obama for their abandonment of his centrist policies. After all, today's Democratic Party—in the wake of the 2006 elections (which elevated Ms. Pelosi to speaker of the House and Mr. Reid to Senate majority leader) and Mr. Obama's victory in 2008—has run up the national debt to once-unthinkable levels: $4 trillion now, with $10 trillion to come over the next decade. The federal budget has swollen by nearly $1 trillion in five years, or twice as much as spending rose during Mr. Clinton's eight years in office.