Politico quotes a series of left-wing activists lamenting the failure of the Democratic field to frontally assail the Obama record. “It’s no secret that [Joe Biden] spent his time in the Obama White House furthering policies that redistributed wealth upwards,” says Maria Svart, the national director of the Democratic Socialists of America.

The New York Times Magazine has a profile of Elizabeth Warren which includes an anecdote highlighting her willingness to attack business, where Obama allegedly shied away. In the speech, Warren reminded business owners that they did not create their success on their own because they rely on all sorts of public investments in order to succeed. Her opponent attacked her, and the Times claims, “Obama, running for re-election, distanced himself in an ad shot from the White House (‘Of course Americans build their own businesses,’ he said).”

Both of these memories of Obama’s presidency are false. The charge of upward redistribution of wealth is easy to rebut. Obama raised taxes on the rich while reducing them for the poor, and created a broad social entitlement (health-care subsidies) whose benefits were heavily tilted toward the bottom end of the income spectrum.