Larry Summers helped sink Elizabeth Warren’s nomination to head new consumer bureau

[zipplewrath]

29. Kinda hard to measure

That's always a tough one to argue. There's no real hard definition of what a democrat is.

He has worked with the democratic leadership (Pelosi and Ried). So for alot of people that's what it means to be a democrat. And as you say there has been his work, as soft and gentle as it was, on DADT and ultimately where he, and his administration, got to on DOMA. He's also been a defender of abortion rights and voting rights, albeit I'm sure there are those that would like more.

I know what you mean, it is often the case that he seems to take the most rightward position a democrat could possibly take. He has made the case (when arguing about GOP obstructionism) that about a decade ago he'd be considered a moderate republican. And, as you suggest, he even mentioned multiple times that his ACA wasn't all that different from what republicans proposed in opposition to HillaryCare.

I suspect his legacy in the long run will be a bit like Clinton's. Clinton is very popular today, but about the only thing he'd point to from his time in office is some foreign policy accomplishments, and a balanced budget, which didn't survive past his administration. In fact, much of what he accomplished is now gone. He isn't going to brag about eliminating Glass Steagal, and it's been replaced essentially by Dodd-Frank. DADT is gone. DOMA was declared basically unconstitutional. We can argue about how much of Welfare Reform is left, but I'd bet Clinton isn't bragging about much of it. NAFTA is still around, but again I don't think the Clintonites are going to be doing alot of bragging about that one either.

In the couple of years we had a democratic majority, he did sign things like Lilly Leadbetter, so in essence I think you have to acknowledge that he is "a democrat". But if you are looking for a more LBJ/FDR kinda democrat, you're going to be disappointed.