It's the distant past now, but back when Bush took the presidency, his people would openly boast to the press that their policy on everything was guided by "ABC" - anything but Clinton. If Clinton did it, it was Bad, so they would do Something Else. What was "funny" was not only did they think this was the way serious adults think about the world, but the press ate it up, too. I mean, of course! Ha ha.
I don't think self-identified liberals and professional democratic centrists are always good. Some have politics and policy preferences I disagree with, and some are just bad people, but I don't think most Democrats really think that way, and had Obama come into office bragging about his Anything But Bush policy, the press would have pilloried him, even though in 2009 everything had gone to shit and it would have been perfectly reasonable.
