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The Gray Area with Sean Illing

Robert Reich on supporting Bernie Sanders, dating Hillary Clinton, and fighting inequality

The Gray Area with Sean Illing

Vox Media Podcast Network

Politics, News, Society & Culture, News Commentary, Philosophy

4.511.1K Ratings

🗓️ 3 May 2016

⏱️ 100 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

You could fill a podcast just reciting Robert Reich's biography. Rhodes Scholar. Assistant to U.S. Solicitor General Robert Bork. Director of policy planning at the Federal Trade Commission under Carter. Secretary of Labor for Bill Clinton. Candidate for governor of Massachusetts. Co-founder of the American Prospect (where I got my first job in journalism!). Member of Barack Obama's economic transition team. Author of bestselling book after bestselling book. Professor. Viral video star. Documentary maker.More recently, Reich has emerged as perhaps the most persuasive (and, on Facebook, widely shared) surrogate for Bernie Sanders. It's a turn that likely would have surprised Reich's younger self — he worked with Hillary Clinton in college, was close friends with Bill Clinton at Oxford, and served Secretary of Labor during Bill Clinton's first term.Among the topics Reich and I cover:- His early relationship with the Clintons, including the time he went on a date with Hillary Clinton- His effort to create an experimental, participatory alternative to college at Dartmouth- The three policies he would change first to curb inequality- The story behind his co-founding of the American Prospect — the magazine that gave me my first job in journalism- What Bernie Sanders is like in person, and how that does or doesn't differ from his public persona- How to communicate effectively about public policy- Whether inequality or political polarization is the root cause of government dysfunction- His relationship with his mentor, John Kenneth GalbraithAnd there is, honestly, much, much more. Reich is, as you'll hear, an incredible storyteller, a sharp thinker, and a very fun guy to talk to, Enjoy!This episode of The Ezra Klein Show is brought to you by The Great Courses Plus. Visit TheGreatCoursesPlus.com/EZRA to watch hundreds of courses for free! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

The following podcast contains explicit language.

0:10.2

So my guess this week is Bob Rice, who is just a really fascinating guy.

0:14.6

And also one of the interviews you all have been asking for since we began.

0:18.4

She went to school with Hillary Clinton, where they were in student government together.

0:23.2

And they actually went as you'll hear in this podcast, and they went out on a date,

0:28.0

which is something I did not know, but it's a really wonderful story that he talks about here.

0:32.2

He was in a road scholar with Bill Clinton, where they became close.

0:35.5

I really urge you to read his memoir locked in the cabinet, where he talks about the first time he met Bill Clinton.

0:41.4

And it's such an amazing portrait of Clinton's almost pathological sociability and friendliness.

0:47.4

It's really very funny, particularly because it all happens while Rice is dry heaving from seasickness.

0:52.8

After that, he became a very influential economic thinker and academic.

0:55.9

Clinton tapped him to manage his economic transition team when he won the presidency.

0:59.8

Then he made Rice Secretary of Labor.

1:01.9

After that, Rice co-founded the American prospect, which is really important in my life,

1:06.0

because that gave me my first job in journalism.

1:08.6

And we talk a bit about that magazine, about the fact it had on the media,

1:12.4

about how to do policy journalism well in general.

1:15.6

But what's really interesting right now about Rice is that despite his long relationship with the Clintons,

1:21.2

he's become maybe the most influential and through his words and through his videos,

1:26.4

widely read and viewed supporter of Bernie Sanders.

1:29.5

This has been a big deal.

1:30.8

His videos on Facebook are racked up at this point, about 80 million views.

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