Latest / THE DAILY BRIEF / Robert Reich CALLS OUT 'Corporate Democrats,' warns of 'fundamental shift' in the party

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Robert Reich CALLS OUT 'Corporate Democrats,' warns of 'fundamental shift' in the party · THE DAILY BRIEF

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  Speaker 1: A new Substack piece by former Labor Secretary Robert Reich
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  Speaker 1: calls out those whom he calls corporate Democrats amid the
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  Speaker 1: recent rise of several progressive Democrats across the country. Reich
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  Speaker 1: writes in part this. To be sure, over the last
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  Speaker 1: three decades, Democrats have scored some important victories for working families.
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  Speaker 1: The Affordable Care Act, an expanded earned income tax credit,
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  Speaker 1: and the Family and Medical Leave Act, for example.
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  Speaker 2: Yet they've done little.
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  Speaker 1: To alter the widening economic inequalities that have taken a
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  Speaker 1: huge toll on working class families. And the former Labor
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  Speaker 1: secretary joins us now. The paperback edition of his book,
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  Speaker 1: Coming Up Short, a memoir of my America, is out now.
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  Speaker 3: Mr.
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  Speaker 1: Secretary, thank you so much for joining us again. Always
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  Speaker 1: good to talk to you. So let's delve into your
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  Speaker 1: piece here a little bit. We're certainly seeing a lot
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  Speaker 1: of energy on the left right now for Democrats, progressive candidates,
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  Speaker 1: some even affiliated with the D.S.A., surging in at least
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  Speaker 1: parts of the country. Is that because, in your estimation,
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  Speaker 1: they are talking big, big swings, big promises and not
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  Speaker 1: just settling?
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  Speaker 2: Yes, I think that we are seeing right now a
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  Speaker 2: fundamental shift in the Democratic Party that is similar to
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  Speaker 2: the shift that occurred in the Republican Party in terms
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  Speaker 2: of populism, progressivism, a concern for affordability, a concern for
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  Speaker 2: average working people. And for too long, it seems to
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  Speaker 2: me at least, and again, I don't want to engage
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  Speaker 2: in false equivalents because I think the Democratic Party at
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  Speaker 2: least does value working people and has been on the
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  Speaker 2: side of working people to a far greater extent than
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  Speaker 2: the Republican Party, in my humble opinion. But I do
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  Speaker 2: think that the Democratic Party is now fired up to
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  Speaker 2: deal with the kitchen table economic problems that affect most
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  Speaker 2: American families these days.
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  Speaker 1: So, Mr. Secretary, you write that you saw the start
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  Speaker 1: of the corporate Democrats there in the 1980s and the 1990s.
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  Speaker 1: It became a party of big money. Again, we're not
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  Speaker 1: offering equivalencies here between the two, but you suggest that
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  Speaker 1: perhaps maybe moderated some of their ambition. So what would
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  Speaker 1: be an example or two of something they could do
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  Speaker 1: that would be big, that would make a difference?
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  Speaker 2: Well, I think we're hearing it around the country in
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  Speaker 2: terms of progressive Democrats who are saying, you know, number one,
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  Speaker 2: Medicare for all or at least a single party payer
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  Speaker 2: for health care that's going to be affordable. You know,
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  Speaker 2: number two, child care. And number three, housing, making housing
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  Speaker 2: more affordable and more available, particularly to young people in
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  Speaker 2: this country who now cannot afford a house.
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  Speaker 3: I mean.
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  Speaker 2: Issue by issue, what people talk about over the kitchen
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  Speaker 2: table really are now central to the Democratic message. And
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  Speaker 2: I think that a lot of Democrats I speak with,
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  Speaker 2: a lot of Democratic candidates are not getting off on
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  Speaker 2: the issues that Republicans want to talk about, you know,
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  Speaker 2: issues of wokeism or issues having to do with the
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  Speaker 2: Democratic socialists of America and No, the Democrats are focusing
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  Speaker 2: where they should on this issue of what can we
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  Speaker 2: do to make your life better off? I also expect
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  Speaker 2: that Democrats are going to be asking the same question
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  Speaker 2: that Ronald Reagan famously asked in 1980 at the end
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  Speaker 2: of his debate with Jimmy Carter. And that is, are
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  Speaker 2: you better off than you were at the start of
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  Speaker 2: this presidency? And most people are going to say no.
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  Speaker 3: When you talk to voters... They are extremely angry at
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  Speaker 3: the Democratic Party, even if they didn't vote for Trump.
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  Speaker 3: What went wrong in the Democratic Party? How did the
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  Speaker 3: Democratic Party become so corporate? And where were those mistakes made?
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  Speaker 3: Was it NAFTA? Was it in compromising on single-payer health care?
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  Speaker 3: What went wrong?
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  Speaker 2: Oh, I think you've got to go way back, back
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  Speaker 2: to the early 1980s, when the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee,
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  Speaker 2: under let's say it was Tony Coelho at the time,
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  Speaker 2: made a deal with corporate America and said, essentially, look,
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  Speaker 2: we are in control of the House. We've been in
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  Speaker 2: control of the House since 1955. Remember, this is the
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  Speaker 2: early 80s. So we're going to be in control of
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  Speaker 2: the House forever. Why shouldn't we drink at the same trough?
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  Speaker 2: As the Republicans. And that was that that proved to
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  Speaker 2: be a deal that was really a an unmaking of
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  Speaker 2: the Democratic Party. I mean, once the Democrats began drinking
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  Speaker 2: at the same corporate level. trough as the Republicans, you know,
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  Speaker 2: it's very difficult to bite the hands that feed you.
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  Speaker 2: And I saw again and again Democrats who were reluctant
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  Speaker 2: to take on big corporations and Wall Street because of
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  Speaker 2: all the funding that was coming from big corporations and
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  Speaker 2: Wall Street. The big difference I see now is that
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  Speaker 2: Democrats are saying, many Democrats, not all, but many Democrats
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  Speaker 2: are saying that to those funding sources, those big corporations
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  Speaker 2: and the wealthy people. They're saying, no, we don't want
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  Speaker 2: your money. We are actually depending now on small donations.
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  Speaker 2: We think we can do it. We're organizing like mad
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  Speaker 2: and we're creating a very different kind of campaign. And
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  Speaker 2: I think we'll see this increasingly in the Democratic Party.
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  Speaker 1: The paperback edition of Coming Up Short, a memoir of
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: my America is available now. He's also got a can't
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  Speaker 1: miss sub stack author and former Labor Secretary Rob Rice.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you very much. We appreciate it.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you.