By now, it is clear that 2008 was not another 1932. Nor was it another 1960. It wasn’t even another 1976.

In fact, the only other presidential election that bears even the slightest resemblance to Barack Obama’s victory is America’s first post-Cold War political contest. The spirit of ’08 was quite a bit like the spirit of ’92.

Not only did both elections pit a relatively moderate defender of the conservative status quo against a relatively unknown voice arguing for change; their respective post-election stories, too, merit a comparison. Bill Clinton, as the first president born after World War II and the first to be elected after the Cold War, certainly inspired a large amount of hope and speculation about the nation’s future.

However, the new administration quickly found fierce opposition from the same movement that President Obama now faces. Just as the Democratic majority of the Obama years has been the object of right-wing Tea Party anger, so the Clinton presidency was caught in the ‘culture wars.’ The conflict over public morality and religion had gone on and off throughout the 20th century, but escalated dramatically in the absence of a foreign adversary during the 1990s.

Only by positioning itself closer to the political right could the Clinton administration bypass this new atmosphere. The new leadership largely followed the ‘Third Way’ path that other center-left parties of the era would travel. In the case of the United States’ Democratic Party, this only occurred after many setbacks. Reaganomics may have ended, but market fundamentalism still permeated the national discourse.

True, 1992 was a new beginning in many respects. Worldwide, nations were adapting to an accelerated era of economic globalization. Conversely, military conflicts became more localized and more ethnic, not ideological, in nature. Even popular music changed, with Grunge and post-punk acts entering the mainstream.

But reality dashed any hopes for a political paradigm shift. The Right regrouped, and the movement of conservative southerners into the Republican Party’s camp finally completed itself. The House of Representatives soon followed.

In retrospect, 2008 has already turned out to be virtually a rerun of the lost opportunity of 1992. The year that ended the Reagan-Bush era turned out to be that and only that; there was merely a change in rule, and little change in policy.

Only time will tell if the comparison goes any further.