Great point. The problem was that in the early 1990s (which I remember well), Democrats were looking back at the Republicans controlling the White House since 1968, with only a brief break for Carter. We had lost the 1972 and 1984 elections by historic margins running as liberals. We were desperate to get back into power, and running as moderates appeared to be the way to succeed. If you look at the Democratic candidates in 1992, except for Tom Harkin, they were all positioning themselves as moderates… this was not unique to Clinton.