Has liberalism run amok under President Obama?

Since President Obama's convincing re-election victory, the dominant political story has centered on whether the GOP should counter right-wing elements within its party and undertake moderate reforms that many argue are necessary for Republicans to return to power. But while a proposed Republican makeover has grabbed all the attention — see the much-publicized "autopsy" this week of Mitt Romney's November defeat — developments within the Democratic Party have largely escaped the microscope.

David Brooks, the center-right columnist at The New York Times, argues that liberals have, in fact, lurched leftward under Obama. Brooks focuses on a budget released by the Congressional Progressive Caucus last week, which calls for a massive $2.1 trillion stimulus program composed of new spending and middle-class tax cuts. All of it would be financed by $4.2 trillion in taxes on the wealthy and corporations. Writes Brooks:

Jumping on Brooks' bandwagon, Jennifer Rubin at The Washington Post argues that conservatives' problems "are actually mild compared to the really big problem at the core of liberal statism":

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It's certainly true that extremism on the right has deflected attention from problematic issues within the Democratic Party. When a majority of House Republicans votes against aid for victims of Hurricane Sandy, against raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans, and against a bill designed to reduce violence against women, it's natural that the spotlight will be on the GOP's divergence from the American mainstream, not the Democrats'.

Furthermore, Rep. Paul Ryan's recently released budget — which would severely cut aid for the poor, to the benefit of the wealthy — is an easy document for Democrats to hold up as an example of radicalism, all while they fail to address their party's own ideologically dangerous tendencies.

However, it's important to note that the Congressional Progressive Caucus does not necessarily represent the majority of the Democratic Party in the way that Ryan's budget is a rough stand-in for the GOP's fiscal and economic policy positions. The CPC does not expect its budget to be passed, and in that respect, it's more useful to see it as a statement of political priorities: Reduce unemployment and expand health care, on the backs of the rich. Ryan's budget is similarly political, but the difference, as Erza Klein at the Post writes, is that "House Progressives don't need to govern. The House Republicans do."

Of course, it remains to be seen whether these progressives would ever line up behind a budget deal that would put the sacred cows Medicare and Social Security on the chopping block. The GOP's unwillingness to compromise means Democrats haven't really been put to the test, another advantage of governing alongside an obstreperous opposition.

That said, while our national debt has clearly grown on President Obama's watch, the government has also cut future deficits by $4 trillion over the next 10 years, using a formula in which spending cuts have heavily outweighed tax hikes. Democrats in both chambers of Congress have largely gone along with the spending cuts, even though they target programs that enjoy strong liberal support. And Obama, at least in outline form, has proposed modest reforms to Medicare and Social Security.

The CPC's budget may indeed represent liberalism run wild. But it is hardly a reflection of how liberals have actually governed.