Politics is fits and spurts. We slowly make progress, then they pull us back a little, but never back to where we started. 8 years ago the debate was over changing the national healthcare system at all. Republicans wanted to keep it as it was. Now they pulled back on the Pre-Existing Condition some, although most acknowledging that we need some protection for those with PIC's, and look at the uproar.
We are still miles ahead of where we were 8 years ago. Its hard for us progressives to ever accept a half a step back, but it happens, and we still have made real progress. In another 4 or 8 years, we will make a new big step forward.
In the Clinton years, it was an uproar that Bill Clinton tried to let homosexuals openly serve in the military, now... They are guaranteed a right to marry, and all the protections that go along with that.
If you take a 10 year view, we almost always make progress. Don't lose track of that and keep fighting to move forward.