A number of people have written to me in a very excited tone about Robert Reich’s blast in the direction of Bill and Hillary Clinton. It’s worth noting in this regard that even though Reich served in the Clinton cabinet and is an old friend of Bill’s from Oxford, it’s not really all that surprising. His memoir of his years in government is quite critical of the Clinton administration, so it’s not shocking to see that he’s not eager for a Clinton Restoration.
The main thing I would take away from the fracas is that Reich has been a from the left critic of Clintonism on economics, precisely the set of issues on which Obama’s been criticized as insufficiently right-wing. As a bonus, Reich and Paul Krugman seem to have some kind of longstanding feud, so this can serve as more grist for the mill.