Robert Reich
Robert B.
Reich, best known to many as an economic policy guru and fixture of public
radio broadcasts, is one of America's foremost public intellectuals. A
prolific commentator and blogger, he is co-founder of the progressive news
and opinion magazine
The American Prospect. He is also author of several compelling
books on workers and unions, trade, capitalism, and Democratic strategy. His
combination of wisdom and wit is deservedly legendary.
Secretary of Labor in the first term of Pres. Bill Clinton, Reich recounts
the adventure and misadventures of his public service from 1993 and 1997 in
his rollicking memoir Locked in the Cabinet (Knopf, 1997). He
chronicles the epic battles to raise the minimum wage, restore workplace
safety and health protections, identify and rein in corporate welfare (a
term he coined), and temper budget-balancing zeal with incentives for worker
retraining and middle-class growth. He couples definitive accounts of the
drive to pass NAFTA and the government shutdowns of late 1995 and early
1996, triggered by GOP intransigence over the federal budget, with a blunt
and vulnerable tale of juggling spousal and fatherly devotion and
Cabinet-level demands. It is one of the best Washington memoirs of this
generation.
Once mocked by a disgruntled labor leader as being unfamiliar with a
screwdriver, Reich stepped before an august group of union officials to
confront the critic and showcase his own mastery of tools. He announced he
had brought with him a peace offering, in the form of a screwdriver, and
proceeded to present his nemesis with a monkey wrench. [You'll have to read
the book to savor the antics that ensued.]
Reich's fan base and stature (he regularly mocks his own height of just over
five feet) did not suffer, but grew substantially, following his
unsuccessful bid for the Democratic nomination for Massachusetts governor in
2002. More recently, he traded his longtime professorship in social and
economic policy at Boston's Brandeis University for a similar platform on
the West Coast at the University of California, Berkeley.
Displaying the independence, clarity, and honesty that have distinguished
his very public and accessible scholarship, Reich has not minced words
during the 2008 presidential campaign. He urged the public to tune into the
issues involved in the three-month strike by the Writers Guild of America
and has repeatedly pushed the candidates to specify how they would
strengthen the middle class and workers' rights. In particular, he has
lauded Barack Obama and defended him against a series smears from the
Clinton campaign, including Bill Clinton's invocation of race during and
following the pivotal South Carolina primary. Reich's deft grasp on American
political history and rhetoric is on display in his
review of four basic narratives that define campaign discourse,
a touchstone that stands alongside the classics of journalism. Home page for
his blog is
here.
