epistemological modesty vs. liberal

An interesting NYT piece asking whether Obama is a bit too ambitious. I had to say I don't see the conflicts between the two world views. I certainly share a sense of epistemological modesty ("They knew how little we can know. They understood that we are strangers to ourselves and society is an immeasurably complex organism. They tended to be skeptical of technocratic, rationalist planning and suspicious of schemes to reorganize society from the top down."). On the other hand I don't think being liberal means technocratic and top-down only.