Robert Reich: Hillary’s Values Aren’t The problem - Salon

[WillyT]

Robert Reich: Hillary’s values aren’t the problem
The former secretary of labor examines how she can win the election -- and win over the American people
Robert Reich - Salon
Tuesday, Apr 14, 2015 01:00 AM PDT

<snip>

It’s a paradox.

Almost all the economic gains are still going to the top, leaving America’s vast middle class with stagnant wages and little or no job security. Two-thirds of Americans are working paycheck to paycheck.

Meanwhile, big money is taking over our democracy.

If there were ever a time for a bold Democratic voice on behalf of hardworking Americans, it is now.

Yet I don’t recall a time when the Democratic Party’s most prominent office holders sounded as meek. With the exception of Elizabeth Warren, they’re pussycats. If Paul Wellstone, Teddy Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, or Ann Richards were still with us, they’d be hollering.

The fire now is on the right, stoked by the Koch brothers, Rupert Murdoch, and a pocketful of hedge-fund billionaires.

Today’s Republican firebrands, beginning with Ted Cruz, blame the poor, blacks, Latinos, and immigrants for what’s been happening. They avoid any mention of wealth and power.

Which brings me to Hillary Rodham Clinton.

In declaring her candidacy for President she said “The deck is stacked in favor of those at the top. Everyday Americans need a champion and I want to be that champion.”

Exactly the right words, but will she deliver?

Some wonder about the strength of her values and ideals. I don’t. I’ve known her since she was 19 years old, and have no doubt where her heart is. For her entire career she’s been deeply committed to equal opportunity and upward mobility.

Some worry she’s been too compromised by big money – that the circle of wealthy donors she and her husband have cultivated over the years has dulled her sensitivity to the struggling middle class and poor.

But it’s wrong to assume great wealth, or even a social circle of the wealthy, is incompatible with a deep commitment to reform – as Teddy Roosevelt and his fifth-cousin Franklin clearly demonstrated.

The more relevant concern is her willingness to fight.

<snip>

More: http://www.salon.com/2015/04/14/robert_reich_hillarys_values_arent_the_problem_partner/

[cilla4progress]

1. Precisely why

Elizabeth Warren is so compelling.

[ann---]

2. No, it's

her warmongering attitude and her kissing up to Nuttyahoo.

[djean111]

3. “The deck is stacked in favor of those at the top." - Exactly WARREN's words.

Not Hillary's.

[jwirr]

4. The whole article is worth a read. Hopefully she listens to him.

[hifiguy]

5. I have no doubt she probably will.

And all the fine words will be tossed into the shredder the day after she wins the election. No need to hide her owners' agenda after that. Big money and war will rule.

[jwirr]

6. Unfortunately you are probably right. The problem is that if she is forced to the left she will not

feel obligated to keep her promises. Unless we can get someone else she is it. I think Reich was more or less suggesting that in order to win in either the general or the primary she should rethink her stand on a lot of issues. Especially economic issues.

Ironically that is what Rubio was saying - she wants to take us back to the 1990s and while that was a good time for many that era also allowed what is happening now to happen. NAFTA.