Via Power Line, I hear Barack Obama’s chief strategist David Axelrod make a startling admission in an NPR interview: “Let’s understand that the white working class has gone to the Republican nominee for many elections going back to even to the Clinton years.”

This is truly amazing. Just a few months ago, Obama was presenting himself as a transformational liberal leader who could not only win the election, but create a coalition for change by appealing to voters who haven’t traditionally voted Democratic. There was talk of winning over not only independents, but even Republicans, who were boastfully dubbed “Obamacans.”

If there’s one enduring effect that this protracted Democratic primary has had, it has turned Obama into a conventional liberal. Even if elected, the idea that he could be a progressive Ronald Reagan capable of changing the trajectory of history now seems remote.