The Downsizing of Robert Reich
For nearly four years, the Clinton administration has locked away its Labor Secretary, Robert Reich -- and his progressive ideas about how to get corporate America to practice better "citizenship." Has Reich's time finally come?
Illustration by Eric White
Before Pat Buchanan, there was Robert Reich.
Until the Dole campaign finally took the "go" out of the Buchanan crusade, it was the bellicose broadcaster who grabbed the headlines, doing what no Democratic politician of the modern era has managed to do: put the hardships and injustices facing American workers on the front burner of American politics. It's an achievement that must stick in Robert Reich's craw. As Secretary of Labor, Reich was supposed to be Bill Clinton's point man on this issue. And certainly Reich has spoken out, and fought, for workers since joining the administration of his old Oxford classmate Clinton. But Reich's efforts have
never attained the visibility of Buchanan's. In an interview with SALON, Reich conceded the point, arguing, "It's far easier to make headlines by vilifying and demonizing, by casting blame, instead of doing the more difficult work of coming up with solutions."
No doubt. But Reich also faces a second problem, closer to home. As a Labor Secretary whose progressive outlook places him on the leftward edge of the Clinton administration, Reich serves a president who seems less interested in the travails of ordinary workers than in keeping corporate America happy through a program of deficit reduction, tight money and global trade agreements. As the New York Times has noted (citing White House sources, no less), Bill Clinton "has done more for the Fortune 500 than virtually any other President in this century."
Next page: Creating corporate responsibility: Beg, borrow or bribe?
