Bill Clinton would talk a good game & people would buy it - no matter what he was signing off on the side (welfare "reform", NAFTA, repeal of key portions of Glass Steagall). George Bush Sr. did the same thing - explicitly stated no new taxes - then he promptly raised taxes on the middle class.
Page is correct about the purple thing - this has definitely been a bipartisan-led austerity experience in this country the past 35 years. I'm not black, but I did grow up in an area that was rural and poor. We actually had an ok lifestyle - could buy a house, have a couple of cars, because my parents were members of unions (dad worked in a steel mill). But that was back in the '70s and those jobs that actually gave us a robust middle class are gone for the most part, replaced by "service" jobs at minimum wage, part-time, few if any benefits. 
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