What about welfare reform and NAFTA? Those were not very liberal things to do.
FDR was also a free trader. Trade liberalization - opposition to tariffs and barriers to trade - has actually been the one thing Democrats have been consistent on throughout their entire history. Historically, it was the
Republicans who were the protectionist party, backing away from that only in the postwar era. Protectionism in the Democratic Party in the '70s and (especially) 1980s was an intraparty insurgency, based on Midwestern manufacturers and labor unions turning from pro-trade (due to export opportunities) - or at least neutral - to hostile, as a result of competition from Asia.
Keep in mind, Dukakis in '88 also campaigned on free trade (attacking Gephardt that year for his protectionism), and
on welfare reform. And Clinton's
original welfare reform plan included a guarantee of a public job and childcare support. (What basically happened re: welfare reform is that after the GOP took Congress, Clinton decided to make an election year calculation to sign into law the Republicans' welfare reform bill, after getting some minor concessions.)