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Robert Reich

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Robert Reich
22nd United States Secretary of Labor
In office
1993–1997
PresidentBill Clinton
Preceded byLynn Morley Martin
Succeeded byAlexis Herman
Personal details
Born (1946-06-24) June 24, 1946 (age 78)
Political partyDemocratic
SpouseClare Dalton
Alma materDartmouth College
Oxford University
Yale Law School
ProfessionAcademic, Political commentator

Robert Bernard Reich (born June 24, 1946) is an American politician, academic, writer, and political commentator. He served as the twenty-second United States Secretary of Labor, serving under President Bill Clinton from 1993 to 1997.

A Dartmouth graduate, Reich is a former Harvard University professor and the former Maurice B. Hexter Professor of Social and Economic Policy at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University. He is currently a professor at the University of California, Berkeley's Goldman School of Public Policy. Reich is also on the board of directors of Tutor.com. He is a trustee of the Economists for Peace and Security.

He is also an occasional political commentator, notably on Hardball with Chris Matthews, This Week with George Stephanopoulos , CNBC's Kudlow & Company, and National Public Radio.

In 2008, Time Magazine named him one of the Ten Most Successful Cabinet Members of the century, [1] and the Wall Street Journal placed him among America's Top Ten Business Thinkers. [2] On November 7, 2008, he was selected by President-elect Barack Obama to be a member of the President-elect's economic transition advisory board.[3]

Biography

Reich was born into a Jewish family, and he attended John Jay High School in Cross River, New York. He attended Dartmouth College, graduating with a bachelor's degree in 1968 and winning a Rhodes Scholarship to study Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at Oxford.[4] Reich subsequently received a J.D. from Yale Law School.

A longtime friend of Bill and Hillary Clinton (he revealed in his first video blog Vimeo.com on March 7, 2007 that he dated Hillary Clinton while in college), going back to their days together at Oxford, Yale, and the George McGovern presidential election campaign in Dallas, Texas, he was invited to head Clinton's economic transition team. He later joined the administration as Secretary of Labor. During his tenure, he implemented the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), successfully promoted increasing the minimum wage, successfully lobbied to pass the Pension Protection Act and the School-to-Work Jobs Act, and launched a number of job training programs. At the same time, he lobbied Clinton to address bigger societal issues, and pushed for improvement of conditions for those in poverty.

In addition, Reich used the office as a platform for focusing the nation's attention on the need for American workers to adapt to the new economy. He advocated that the country provide more opportunities for workers to learn more technology, and predicted the shrinkage of the middle class due to a gap between unskilled and highly skilled workers.

Reich is 4 feet 10.5 inches (148.6 centimetres) tall. His height is a result of multiple epiphyseal dysplasia, also known as Fairbanks disease. This genetic condition has also affected Reich's hips; he had double hip replacement surgery in 1992.[5] Reich has used his height as a source of humor, appearing with the 6 ft 4 in (193 cm) Conan O'Brien in a sketch on Late Night with Conan O'Brien.[6]

His son Sam Reich is a director of content for CollegeHumor and part of the web video comedy group Dutch West.[7]

After the Clinton administration

In 1996, between Clinton's re-election and second inauguration, Reich decided to leave the department to spend more time with his sons, then in their teen years. He published his experiences working for the Clinton administration in Locked in the Cabinet. After publication of the book, Reich received criticism for embellishing events with invented dialogue. The paperback release of the memoir revised or omitted the inventions.[8]

Reich became a professor at Brandeis University, teaching courses for undergraduates as well as in the Heller School for Social Policy and Management. In 2003, he was elected the Professor of the Year by the undergraduate student body.

In 2002, he ran for Governor of Massachusetts. He also published an associated campaign book, I'll Be Short. Reich was the first Democratic candidate for a major political office to support same-sex marriage. He also pledged support for abortion rights, and strongly condemned capital punishment. His campaign staff was largely made up of his Brandeis students. Although his campaign had little funding, he surprised many and came in second in the Democratic primary with 25% of the vote.

In 2003, he was awarded the prestigious Václav Havel Foundation VIZE 97 Prize, by the former Czech president, for his writings in economics and politics.[9]

In 2004, he published Reason, a handbook on how liberals can forcefully argue for their position in a country increasingly dominated by what he calls "radcons", or radical conservatives.

In addition to his professorial role, he is a weekly contributor to the American Public Media public radio program Marketplace, and a regular columnist for the American Prospect. He is also a frequent contributor to CNBC's Kudlow & Company and On the Money.

In early 2005, there was speculation that Reich would once again seek the Democratic nomination for Governor of Massachusetts. He instead became one of the earliest endorsers of the then-little-known candidacy of Deval Patrick, who has previously served as Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights in the Clinton Administration. Patrick would go on to take the state party's endorsement, win a three-way primary with nearly 50% of the vote, and be elected Governor in a landslide in November 2006.

In September 2005 Reich testified against John Roberts at his confirmation hearings for Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court.

During the 2008 primaries, Reich published an article that was extremely critical of the Clintons, referring to Bill Clinton's attacks on Barack Obama as "ill-tempered and ill-founded," and accusing the Clintons of waging "a smear campaign against Obama that employs some of the worst aspects of the old politics." [10]

On April 18, 2008 Reich endorsed Barack Obama for President of the United States.[11] On October 16, 2008 Reich appeared on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart in which he talked about his new book, Supercapitalism: The Transformation of Business, Democracy, and Everyday Life.

Political and philosophical stance

Robert Reich holds a left of center political stance. In an interview with The New York Times, he explained that "I don’t believe in redistribution of wealth for the sake of redistributing wealth. But I am concerned about how we can afford to pay for what we as a nation need to do."[12]

In response to a question as to what to recommend to the incoming president regarding a fair and sustainable income and wealth distribution, Reich said, "Expand the Earned Income Tax Credit — a wage supplement for lower-income people, and finance it with a higher marginal income tax on the top five percent. For the longer term, invest in education for lower income communities, starting with early-childhood education and extending all the way up to better access to post-secondary education."[12]

He also holds an altruistic stance with regards to financial risks,"So let’s help families stay in their homes and continue to pay mortgages that are refinanced so they can afford to pay them. And let’s have better financial oversight so the next time money is cheap, mortgage lenders don’t shove it into the hands of people who don’t know what they’re getting into."[12]

Reich is of the opinion that moral hazard and risk are inherent to laissez-faire capitalism, and he favors a more regulated economic system and opposes policies that create a concentration of wealth in the hands of a rich few. [13]

Books

  • 2007: Supercapitalism: The Transformation of Business, Democracy, and Everyday Life ISBN 0-307-26561-7
  • 2004: Reason: Why Liberals Will Win the Battle for America ISBN 1-4000-7660-9
  • 2002: I'll Be Short: Essentials for a Decent Working Society ISBN 0-8070-4340-0
  • 2000: The Future of Success: Working and Living in the New Economy ISBN 0-375-72512-1
  • 1997: Locked in the Cabinet ISBN 0-375-70061-7
  • 1991: The Work of Nations: Preparing Ourselves for 21st Century Capitalism ISBN 0-679-73615-8
  • 1990: Public Management in a Democratic Society ISBN 0-13-738881-0
  • 1988: The Power of Public Ideas (editor) ISBN 0-674-69590-9
  • 1989: The Resurgent Liberal: And Other Unfashionable Prophecies ISBN 0-8129-1833-9
  • 1987: Tales of a New America: The Anxious Liberal's Guide to the Future ISBN 0-394-75706-8
  • 1985: New Deals: The Chrysler Revival and the American System (with John Donahue) ISBN 0-14-008983-7
  • 1983: The Next American Frontier ISBN 0-8129-1067-2
  • 1982: Minding America's Business: The Decline and Rise of the American Economy (with Ira Magaziner) ISBN 0-394-71538-1

See also

References

  1. ^ Time's List of Top 10 Cabinet Members http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1858368_1858367_1858365,00.html
  2. ^ The most influential business thinkers, according to a Wall Street Journal ranking http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120994652485566323.html?mod=US-Business-News
  3. ^ Obama's Transition Economic Advisory Board: the Full List http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/campaign-2008/2008/11/07/obamas-transition-economic-advisory-board-the-full-listn.html
  4. ^ Turco, Al. "Democrat Robert Reich says he’s prepared to make a difference in Mass.", Stoneham Independent, March 20, 2002. Accessed April 21, 2008. "Reich started out as a graduate of John Jay High School, a regional public high school in small-town Cross River, New York. Reich then earned a bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth College in 1968 and won a Rhodes Scholarship to study at Oxford where he received degrees in philosophy, politics and economics."
  5. ^ Leibovitch, Mark (March 14, 2002). "The True Measure of a Man". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on April 23, 2003. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |accessmonthday= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |curly= ignored (help)
  6. ^ "Buddy Cops". Late Night with Conan O'Brien. NBC. April 21, 2006. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |accessmonthday= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  7. ^ Benson, Heidi (September 23, 2007). "The Class Warrior". San Francisco Chronicle. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |accessmonthday= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |curly= ignored (help)
  8. ^ http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0DE2DA173EF937A15751C0A96E958260
  9. ^ Foundation VIZE 97 - Laureates
  10. ^ Robert Reich's Blog: Bill Clinton's Old Politics
  11. ^ Robert Reich's Blog: Obama for President
  12. ^ a b c http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/05/01/robert-reich-answers-your-labor-questions/
  13. ^ http://robertreich.blogspot.com/2008/06/why-we-need-real-fiscal-stimulus.html
Political offices

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