Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich on Friday became the fifth former Clinton Cabinet member to endorse Barack Obama, saying that loyalty to his old friends the Clintons had been overwhelmed by unhappiness with the tone of Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential campaign.
"I did not plan to endorse. I wanted to stay out of the whole endorsement racket. But my conscience wouldn't let me stay silent after this latest round of mudslinging," Reich, a UC Berkeley professor of public policy, said in a telephone interview from his campus office.
"When millions of Americans are losing their homes and jobs, when the economy is facing its worst crisis in 60 years, when the Iraq war is still causing chaos in the Middle East, to focus on whether Obama should have used the word 'bitter' when he talked about the plight of many in Pennsylvania, and to resurrect the old Republican themes of guns and religion, and to call Obama 'elitist' . . . just put me over the edge."
A spokesman for Bill Clinton, who first met Reich when the two were sailing to England in 1968 as Rhodes scholars, said the former president had no comment. A spokesman for Hillary Clinton, who attended Yale Law School with her husband-to-be and Reich in the early 1970s, dismissed the endorsement.
"He made clear his choice some time ago, so this isn't any surprise," said Mo Elleithee.
Reich had previously laced into the Clintons on his blog, including postings titled "Will HRC Spoil the Party?" (yes, he suggested, by staying in the race too long); "Why Is HRC Stooping So Low" (which criticized her "stridency and inaccuracy" in discussing Social Security); and "Bill Clinton's Old Politics" (which criticized his "ill-tempered and ill-founded attacks" on Obama).
Still, Reich's written endorsement -- which offered only positive reasons for his decision -- drew wide coverage after being posted on his blog (robertreich.blogspot.com). It also underscored one of the difficulties that Clinton faces as she struggles to overtake Sen. Obama of Illinois, who leads the Democratic contest in pledged delegates and the popular vote with just a few major primaries remaining. The more aggressive her tack, polls suggest, the higher she drives her own negative standing with voters.
"She's in a box," said Democratic strategist Joe Trippi, who has stayed neutral since his candidate, former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, quit the race. "The more she does the thing she has to do, the more people don't like her."
