In 1993, it came to the attention of the U.S. Department of Labor that one Tommy McCoy, 14 year old bat boy of the Class A Savannah Cardinals, was violating child labor laws by working beyond 7:00 on school nights and 9:00 during the Summer. Under pressure from the Feds, the team canned Tommy. When Secretary of Labor, Robert Reich heard of the flap, he termed the whole affair "silly", which it most certainly was. Subsequently, the D.O.L. issued a statement that it would not enforce such violations in organized baseball. Maybe this didn't qualify him for volume II of Profiles in Courage, but I always thought better of Reich after that, feeling that underneath all that academic over achievement and liberal posturing lurked a man with some good common sense.
Reich first met Wellesley freshman Hillary Rodham amid the political firestorms of the mid-sixties and found they shared a righteous indignation regarding the popularly-perceived social wrongs of the era and a commitment to achieve solutions through the political activism, de rigueur at elite New England colleges. Their paths would cross again in the early seventies when he and Bill Clinton, fresh off a two-year stint as Rhode Scholars, arrived at Yale Law School where Hillary was enrolled. As a certified F.O.B., Reich joined the Clinton cabinet as Labor Secretary where he served from 1993 to 1997. During this time, he would have had ample opportunity to witness firsthand the performance of Hillary Clinton during her husband's presidency.
In 2002, while teaching at Brandeis University, Reich ran for governor of Massachusetts and ended up capturing 25% of the votes in the democratic primary. Four years later, he passed up on a re-run in favor of supporting neophyte candidate Deval Patrick, who served as Clinton's Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights and who went on to win the Governor's chair. Patrick is a strong supporter of Barack Obama. All of which equips Robert Reich with a unique perspective to evaluate the two remaining Democratic candidates for president.
Given this background, many were caught by surprise today when Reich endorsed Barack Obama for President in a posting on his personal BLOG Saying, in part:
"My avoidance of offering a formal endorsement until now has also been affected by the pull of old friendships and my reluctance as a teacher and commentator to be openly partisan. But my conscience won't let me be silent any longer.
I believe that Barack Obama should be elected President of the United States."
Who's next, Hughie Rodham?
1 comment:
Like Madame Thérèse Defarge, Hillary has no doubt added Robert Reich's name to her list of They Who Must Pay. Of course, Hillary won't actually knit his name, because knitting, like baking cookies, is not what serious high-minded feminists from Wellesley do. Meanwhile, the enemy of my enemy is my friend, so I think I'll invite Bob out for a root beer and some buffalo wings, on me.
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