Robert Reich, former Secretary of Labor for Mr. Clinton, has been a prominent blog-supporter of Mr. Obama’s – stating from the beginning that he saw more potential in Mr. Obama and his ideas than he saw in a return to the Clinton presidency or in Ms. Clinton’s plans. Last Saturday, Mr. Reich discussed his personal relationship with Mr. Clinton and described the historical context of his choice to back his old friend’s current nemesis:
Neither John F. Kennedy nor his brother Robert were idealists. They were realists who understood the importance of idealism in the service of realism. They grasped the central political fact that little can be achieved in Washington unless or until the public is energized and mobilized to push for it; the status quo is simply too powerful. The ideals they enunciated helped mobilized the nation politically. That mobilization contributed to the subsequent passage of civil rights and voting rights laws, Medicare, and environmental protection. For purposes of practical electoral strategy as well as high-minded moral aspiration, they never tired of reminding the nation of its founding principles – most fundamentally, that all men are created equal.