Of course, everybody else in the real world was much worse: The Germans killed all of their "others", we just interned them for the duration of the war. Many more Japanese people would have died if the allies had to invade Japan rather than bluffing them into surrendering in a week with our vast nuclear arsenal of two bombs. Johnson inherited a mess, and he left a mess in Vietnam but he did a hell of a lot domestically with the Civil Rights Act. And Clinton's main talent was to find common ground so both sides of the aisle could vote for legislation, because getting half way to a goal is better than not making any progress.
And I think we are going to see that with Madame Clinton too: A President who will break the deadlock between the partisans in Congress and find common ground Congress can act on (and the voters will support). Remember, probably 90% of the stuff Congress should do does not have a particularly Democratic or Republican aspect. We used to pass most legislation with bipartisan support, and we can again.
I'm sorry, but the American public simply is not as Liberal as you wish. Even if they won't vote for free college, they could be lead to support inexpensive state colleges and universities for the talented, by a skillful President.
