I disagree. He was at heart a European style socialist using his ties to a conservative southern state to pretend to be a moderate Democrat. He started out, for two years, in full out marxist mode, with a Democrat congress, Janet Reno at DOJ, Hillary proposing the earlier version of Obamacare, tax increases, huge spending, normalizing gays with "don't ask, don't tell", EPA and Labor Department putting their boots on American businesses, etc. He got slapped down in the mid-terms and for the first time in 40 years, there was a Republican Congress. Then, and only then, did he pretend to be a normal, liberal Democrat, which Americans can live with. He survived to win another term only because he compromised with a Congress whose policies brought enormous prosperity, and because Republicans chose to run Bob Dole instead of a conservative. Even Jimmy Carter could have won a second term with such competition.
Who is the conservative who would have made a plausible nominee for the Republicans in 1996, instead of Dole, and been able to beat Clinton?