Ramesh – Very fair point and I think you’re right insofar as “last gasp” is probably the wrong phrase; progressivism isn’t dying. A better phrase might have been “Hail Mary Pass” or “last ditch effort” or some such. Regardless, you’re right that’s it’s possible that Obama could still craft a new “era” of sorts for progressivism, despite his comparatively low political standing.

However, I do think I’m right that we already know this is no New Deal II we’re witnessing. The New Deal was popular from the outset. Pro-FDR candidates (mostly Democrats, but not entirely) won significant victories not just in the 1934 midterms but in the 1933 off-year elections. In the midterms, Democrats took 9 seats in the Senate and 9 in the House. That might sound small for the House but it was on the heels of winning 90 House seats in 1932 (and 13 in the Senate). Polling on the earlier New Deal is pretty flimsy given the state of the craft back then, but needless to say given the 2009 Virginia, New Jersey, Massachusetts elections and the current state of the polls, Obama’s “New Foundation” agenda isn’t remotely as popular as FDR’s was. Again, you’re right that it is possible that it will gain traction the way Reagan’s agenda did, but as big a fan of Reagan as I am, he didn’t change America nearly as much as FDR did, alas.