I'm basically out of things to say on the topic of neoliberalism, but Paul Glastris's post on the subject is probably the pick of the litter. Unlike the other participants, Paul actually is/was a neoliberal, and while he's moved left in recent years, it's unclear if that drift is an enduring reevaluation or a temporary effect of the minority mindset. In any case, this seems right:
most neolib-New Dem types I knew shared one main goal: to remove the thorns in the paw of the American body politic that made voters furious at the federal government, so that government could once again play an activist, progressive role in American life.
Now, I think most of those thorns were perception more than reality, and others think they were more reality than perception, but what neoliberalism undoubtedly did was restore the reputation of Democrats as basically competent. What it didn't do was offer an electrifying vision you could rally a country behind. For that, you need to turn back to full-throated progressivism, which can now erect its vision atop the strong perceptual foundation laid by the neoliberals.
