Chelsea, I didn’t want, and don’t want, to get between last night’s argument between you and Clare because I enjoy and respect both of your commenting.
Like Clare, I welcome a supportive comment from Reich as well as anyone else – even longtime Republicans – that furthers the Resistence to this vile regime.
Like you, I have had many WTF moments in recent years over Reich. He has also been dismissive of President Obama at crucial times.
One example: during the early GW Bush years when he was trying to negotiate a trade deal, Reich advocated for Congress to give Bush, a Republican, “fast track” authority to conclude negotiations.
But when President Obama was seeking fast track authority for TPP, Reich – who served in a Democrat administration – advocated against Congress giving Obama “fast track” authority to conclude negotiations for the TPP, even though the TPP did include enforceable environmental, labor, and human rights standards – standards that typically are not championed by the free trade advocates and have not been enforced in past agreements. NAFTA did not include those standards, a distinction that Reich should have pointed out.
As a respected Clinton era Labor Secretary, Reich was in a position to inject some facts and history into the often-hysterical discussion over the TPP.
Instead, in my opinion he helped bolster the bogus America First atmosphere that won Trump the presidency and which is leading to our diplomatic, economic, and strategic isolation in the world.
