Even the political aspect of welfare reform has proven illusory. Repealing AFDC was supposed to inoculate Democrats against predictable right-wing attacks on the party of moochers; this is what made it the crowning glory of Clintonism, the change that had to come before the New Dems could get started on “transforming politics.” But today it’s as though nothing changed at all. Conservatives still routinely blast the clueless generosity of the welfare state, which supposedly coddles the 47 percent and rocks the lazy to sleep in a comfy government-issue hammock.
