Locked in the Cabinet

by Robert B. Reich

Locked in the Cabinet is a close-up view of the way things work, and often don't work, at the highest levels of government--and a uniquely personal account by the man whose ideas inspired and animated much of the Clinton campaign of 1992 and who became the cabinet officer in charge of helping ordinary Americans get better jobs. Robert B. Reich, writer, teacher, social critic--and a friend of the Clintons since they were all in their twenties--came to be known as the "conscience  of the Clinton administration and one of the most successful Labor Secretaries in history. Here is his sometimes hilarious, sometimes poignant chronicle of trying to put ideas and ideals into practice.

With wit, passion, and dead-aim honesty, Reich writes of those in Washington who possess hard heads and soft hearts, and those with exactly the opposite attributes. He introduces us to the career bureaucrats who make Washington run and the politicians who, on occasion, make it stop; to business tycoons and labor leaders who clash by day and party together by night; to a president who wants to change America and his opponents (on both the left and the right) who want to keep it as it is or return it to where it used to be. Reich guides us to the pinnacles of power and pretension, as bills are passed or stalled, reputations built or destroyed, secrets leaked, numbers fudged, egos bruised, news stories spun, hypocrisies exposed, and good intentions occasionally derailed. And to the places across America where those who are the objects of this drama are simply trying to get by--assembly lines, sweatshops, union halls, the main streets of small towns and the tough streets of central cities.

Locked in the Cabinet is an intimate odyssey involving a memorable cast--a friend who is elected President of the United States, only to discover the limits of power; Alan Greenspan, who is the most powerful man in America; and Newt Gingrich, who tries to be. Plus a host of White House staffers and cabinet members who can't find "the loop ; political consultant Dick Morris, who becomes "the loop ; baseball players and owners who can't agree on how to divide up $2 billion a year; a union leader who accuses Reich of not knowing what a screwdriver looks like; a heretofore invisible civil servant deep in the Labor Department whose brainchild becomes the law of the land; and a wondrous collection of senators, foreign ministers, cabinet officers, and television celebrities. And it is also an odyssey for Reich's wife and two young sons, who learn to tolerate their own cabinet member but not to abide Washington.

Here is Reich--determined to work for a more just society, laboring in a capital obsessed with exorcising the deficit and keeping Wall Street happy--learning that Washington is not only altogether different from the world of ordinary citizens but ultimately, and more importantly, exactly like a world in which Murphy's Law reigns alongside the powerful and the privileged, but where hope amazingly persists. There are triumphs here to fill a lifetime, and frustrations to fill two more. Never has this world been revealed with such richness of evidence, humor, and warmhearted candor.

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction, Biography, Memoir, History, Economics, Biography Memoir

370 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 15, 1997

About the author

Robert Bernard Reich is an American politician, academic, and political commentator. He served as Secretary of Labor under President Bill Clinton from 1993 to 1997. Reich is a former Harvard University professor and the former Maurice B. Hexter Professor of Social and Economic Policy at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University. He is currently a professor at the University of California, Berkeley's Goldman School of Public Policy. Mr. Reich is also on the board of directors of Tutor.com. He is a trustee of the Economists for Peace and Security. He is an occasional political commentator, notably on Hardball with Chris Matthews, This Week with George Stephanopoulos and CNBC's Kudlow & Company.

Reviews

[Brandon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Of all the books about the executive branch we could have been assigned to read for school, I was assigned to read this memoir that I found both insightful and hilarious. I acknowledge that some people may not agree with his political stance, but I think everyone can appreciate other aspects of his story. While reading this book, I loved Reich's sense of humor, genuine concern for the poor, frankness in calling out what he thought was morally wrong, and effort to balance his commitment to both his job and family.

Maybe the reason Reich was so idealistic as Secretary of Labor was that he was a economics professor and not a career politician. Like George Washington, he went into politics only because he believed he could improve the country, not in a pursuit of power. Not having to constantly worry about how to get reelected, Reich put the essence of his job - improving the lives of the working people - as his first priority.

This book is worth reading.

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Robert Reich was the Secretary of Labor during President Clinton's first term, and was also probably the most liberal member of Clinton's staff. This introduction sets the stage for much of what happens in this light-hearted and surprisingly funny political memoir. I was most impressed with his bravery in defending positions that are both unpopular and almost certainly incorrect. For example, he seems to take great pleasure in criticizing Alan Greenspan. He also repeatedly argues that Clinton worked too hard balancing the budget. Despite his apparent disregard for mainstream economics, Reich's book was a true pleasure to read.

[Austin Carroll Keeley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Robert Reich is a paragon of the left; hailed by progressives as a strong moral voice in an amoral world, and reviled by conservatives as a radical, out of touch professor dead set on ruining America Neither vision, of course, is true. Reich's memoir of his time in the Clinton administration approaches the halls of government with humor (often self-deprecating), insight, anger, frustration, and honesty. The book is unafraid to make fun of his own shortcomings, but this provides the author with the ability to take real jabs at friends and foes alike.

Reich does not come out unscathed. He is a political novice who makes key miscalculations that have real implications for workers and the President. But throughout he provides both theatrical and mundane portraits of "B" (President Clinton), "the most powerful man in America" (Alan Greenspan), and the "mean" Newt Gingich. They both humanize and dramatize these powerful men (the women are most often presented in one dimensional light, with the exception of Clare Dalton, the author's wife).

This book is recommend for those who look back on the Clinton years as the glory years of Democrats. Reich spends much time attacking the administration obsession with the deficit instead of investments in workers; the strains of balancing his job with his family (a balance he concludes is impossible to achieve); the pressures of politics versus policy; and much more. He deconstructs many of the myths of the Clinton era and shows them for what they are: politics, i.e. "the art of the possible".

[Brett Warnke · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderfully written account of the 1990s by former Clinton Secretary of Labor, Robert Reich. It shows how corporate capitalism had become the rule by the 1990s and shows the Democratic Party’s complicity in tending to the needs of the super-powerful and wealthy at the expense of their own voters. It details how Clinton disciplined these voters: labor, the working poor, people of color, and fractured the Democratic coalition in favor of upper-middle class suburbanites. The Crime Bill, welfare slashing, deregulation—all massive long-term failures--became the "successes" of an administration that didn't know what it was doing even before it forgot who it was. There are a few villains, too, Lloyd Bentsen and Dick Morris and Rubin, especially. Clinton himself comes off as a spineless liar in far over his head. The Republicans are their usual beastly selves, headed by Newt Gingrich, who Reich vividly describes. But Secretary Reich’s tragedy is to walk around the halls of the White House with few allies, many problems, and no movements pushing for anything other than capital gains tax cuts. Inside the quiet rooms no one advocates for working people, everyone advocates for the wealthy and connected. Even little changes are smashed as impossible and ludicrous. Slight changes to the government are scoffed at and the culture war spinners take precedence over the voices of the precarious and unheard. There are great interviews with working people throughout this book, showing a fascinating history of the collapse of labor, the end of the new deal coalition, and the transformation of the Democratic Party into a weak, sluggish party of the center-right.

[Meg - A Bookish Affair · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was pretty good. Robert Reich was the Secretary of Labor under the first Clinton term. I have to say that before this book, I didn't really have a clear picture of what exactly the Secy of Labor did. It is always interesting to me to read the memoirs of people inside the government; you tend to find out about a lot of things that occurred behind the scenes. This book would be good for any political junkie.

[Andrew Rothstein · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is written in the form of a diary. Robert Reich was Secretary of Labor under Bill Clinton. Reich relates the ups and downs of working in a presidential cabinet. Reich has a light writing style, with occasional self-deprication, outrage, elation, and frustration. He portrays some of the personal sacrifices demanded of public service.

[Wyndy KnoxCarr · Rating 4 out of 5]

I only give him four stars because it's so awfully painful to read how he identified the slippery slope of creeping military-corporatism as one of many strangleholds coming on. He's a great memoirist in that much of it is touching and cynically humorous by turns, laced with all too incontrovertible depictions of then-current events.
During his tenure Locked in the Cabinet as Secretary Of Labor with Bill Clinton 1993-97, college chums Bob and Bill went to Washington with little understanding of how the political machine there would chew up, irretrievably distort and bullet back their and the voters' egalitarian, democratic ideals within months. The cheerful cohorts came in with a Democratic Congress and liberal Court and got trounced by the Republican "get tough" and get "Religious" Right in the 1994 midterm "Republican Revolution" election, branded as out-of-touch "tax and spend liberals."
Sound familiar? The opposition agenda was the same then as now, but somewhat softer and couched in the saintly-sounding ideals of the "Contract with America" that systematically stripped the poor, disabled, women, children, unions, elderly, ill, people of color, immigrants(...) of the few public benefits, health care and jobs they/ we could get hold of and put shaming, blaming, suffering and prison time in their place. Reich was "Little Bob" to Bill's Robin Hood, but Speaker Newt of Nottingham and his gang of slithery thieves-in-official-clothing were too much for them. Giving to the rich and taking from the poor began openly in U S government only ten years after Nixon left the White House. Reich shows us their dirty, all-too-human roots.

[Brian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Entertainment-1 Stars
Education- 1 Star
Readability- 1 star
Innovation- 1 Stars
Inspiration- 1 Stars

Total = 5 Stars

This is a fascinating look inside DC. Some people call Reich a commie and say he is too far over the line. I have seen some other critism saying he just made up things. I think it was really just how he saw things, and everyone has different perspectives. I can forgive him for seeing the world and himself through rose colored glasses.

It is just stunning how much horse shit goes on in DC. I think Reich was an honest guy, trying to do the best he could in an insane environment.

One part that really stood out to me was when he tried to make Bridgestone fix some machines that were very dangerous. It would have cost a pittance to save some lives and limbs, and when he sued them to make them fix it they just shut the plant down. Then everyone was mad at him for costing peoples jobs. Just shows sometimes you can't win.

I think the other telling aspect of the book was seeing how he saw the Clinton's. Admittedly friends of his, at least before the book, it is a good window into how someone with the best of intentions can get taken off track and lose sight of what is important. Clinton maybe a horn dog with an ego the size of Texas, but at some point he may have actually wanted to do some good for the little guy. Unfortunately that guy got lost long before he was in DC. If only he had inhaled...

[Kristen Pesta · Rating 3 out of 5]

Robert Reich is funny and honest about the issues he faced in his time as the Secretary of Labor for Clinton. While not perfect, I always appreciate someone working to push democrats further left.

[Gordon Kwok · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bob Reich is actually a really funny guy and he's a really smart guy. I found this book to be very enjoyable. It is about Bob Reich's time in President Clinton's Cabinet as his Secretary of Labor. Here, you can see Secretary Reich's populist message and role as a "conscience" to the administration such as doing things for the "little guy" such as increasing the Earned Income Credit.

If you like books with insider accounts of White House days, this is a good book for you.

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Robert Reich was the Secretary of Labor for Bill Clinton's first term. His memoir is the best by a senior public official I've ever read. Funny, candid, smart, and enlightening. Sad thing is that we are still talking about the same issues revolving around economic inequality twenty-five years later.

[Bill · Rating 4 out of 5]

A sad commentary on the state of American politics and our "democratic" institutions. Worth the read just to enjoy his personal insights and great sense of humor.

[Don · Rating 4 out of 5]

A political memoir that is an entertaining read; an author that is usually ‘the bright guy’ in the room, but who is also self-effacing - telling us about getting stuck in the dog door, and about the many instances in which his staff tried to correct his sometimes politically ineffective moves - and, is quite often funny!

How interesting to be reminded of the politics of the 1990’s through the eyes of Robert Reich, Secretary of Labor in the first Clinton administration. As Secretary of Labor in the first Clinton administration, Reich, with Clinton, recognized that a changing economy required a changing federal economic strategy with a strong focus on retraining workers in declining industries so that they would be prepared to fill new, good-paying jobs in the emergent sectors of the economy. Reich recounts his experiences in trying to define and navigate a public labor force support policy path between the ‘keep our American jobs’ camp and the ‘cut them loose and let them swim or drown’ camp. In a time of escalating deficits, rising inflation, and insistence by the Republican opposition on lowering both at the expense of investing in remolding the labor force, we encounter the likes of Alan Greenspan, Newt Gingrich, Lane Kirkland, and fellow Cabinet members and administration officials like Robert Rubin and Lloyd Bentsen. Wall Street vs. Main Street; Dems vs. Republicans; Dems vs. Dems; rich vs. poor and a thinning middle class in between. Written in diary form, Reich’s is an illustrative and well-told tale.

When you’re tired of today’s turmoil, you might welcome this stroll down a 90’s lane, through territory which will appear still familiar, characters still among us, tensions still shaping our struggles towards a better political and economic future for all Americans.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an entertaining book about a man who goes to work for a longtime friend, spends a lot of time away from his family, and ultimately feels unsuccessful in what he set out to do. It's the story of Bill Clinton's Secretary of Labor, Robert Reich.

Locked in the Cabinet contains Reich's notes of things he wanted to remember about his four years (1993-97) in Washington. Readers get a sense of what it's like to be in this job, as well as some insider looks into political battles within the Clinton Administration's first term. Reich fights to expand job training for workers displaced by deindustrialization when budget austerity was in fashion. He looks to defend workers being robbed by their employers. He is rightly suspicious of labor leaders like then AFL-CIO President Lane Kirkland, but doesn't see democratization of the labor movement as a solution. Clinton's efforts to mediate a contract dispute in Major League Baseball utterly befuddled him.

Much of the book is about the effect of his public service on his family life. His wife and children spent most of this time in Boston, with Reich working in DC and coming home on weekends. He eventually decides to leave the job and return to academia after the 1996 election.

Ultimately, Locked in the Cabinet describes four years at the highest level of US democracy and Reich's limited effort to make things better for American workers. He clearly respects workers but prefers that government take care of them instead of workers fighting for themselves. This is the most disappointing part of the book. Read it to learn more about the Republican Party at the beginning of the turn to right-wing extremism and how the Democratic Party learned to adapt to that turn.

[Chris Bartholomew · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enjoyable read. Robert Reich's years in the Clinton White House as Secretary of Labor. As a liberal Mr. Reich has solid ideas for assisting the unemployed find a way our of the cycle of low paying unskilled jobs. With the changes taking place in the world and the effect on the decline of some industries and the rise of others it is more important than ever to retrain and redeploy our work force. At the same time the book is a joy to read as the author uses a good deal of humor and reflection of his own personal life to help the reader better understand the politics that at times drives us all mad.

[Jay · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had followed Reich's writings over the years, but not read any of his books. Wish I'd open this one before now. Clear eyed account, based on journal entries, of his 4 years in the cabinet. Reich was a Rhodes Scholar class mate of Bill Clinton's as well as a Yale Law contemporary of Bill and Hillary (while Clarence Thomas and John Bolton were there). In the cabinet he was a progressive against the tide of 90s budget balancing. He learned to pick his battles and to be a horse-trader. There is real disappointment, but the biggest was his time away from his family.....and he could be eye-wateringly funny.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Robert Reich was the secretary of labor in the Clinton administration. The combination of his intelligence, career experience, and sense of humor make this book accessible to most people and an enjoyable read. He tells the story of politics in Washington D.C. and the ups and downs of government service. He was a first-hand witness of the rise of politicians like Newt Geingrich and it is very interesting to view that time through the lens of today's political situation. I highly recommend this book and I look forward to reading more from this author.

[Aspar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Humorous book on what Reich, and many liberals, believes is the lost promise of Clinton. Reich, a long time friend of both Clintons, as a clear-eyed liberal who entered office with the best of intentions but was turned by conservatives both within the administration and on the Hill into a conservative essentially.
Reich doesn't outright call Clinton a sell-out to more liberal causes, but essentially says so with his condemnation of Clinton's economic/tax policies (so conservative they easily could have been Bush H W policies) and lack of support for labor reforms that Reich advocated.

[Yuri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Brief and entertaining, Reich's history of his time as Secretary of Labor is worth reading predominantly for insights on how government functions: the trade-offs, the byzantine organization of departments, and the difficulty of knowing what is "really going on." Descriptions of contemporaries are limited by Reich's biases; he shows little, if any insight, into what led to the Republican revolution of 1994 and is blind to Clinton's obvious faults. But for an admittedly shallow overview of how government "works" (or, more likely, "doesn't work"), the book is worth a quick read.

[Simran · Rating 4 out of 5]

The one thing I knew coming in about Clinton was that he cut welfare. Reading the actual behind the scenes of everything, and understanding what could get passed before Clinton started moving towards the center was fascinating. Reich had the most front row seat to everything (outside of senior WH staff) so being able to actually read everything from his perspective gave such an amazing inside look at everything labor related.

Also knowing that Sam Reich grew up to found Dropout is hilarious when reading about him studying for exams or playing the drums.

[Kay · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun one! I particularly enjoyed Reich’s early-term story within a story, which casts Alan Greenspan as a ghoul.

I’m not an expert on labor or economic policy, but my sense is that Reich’s public investment framework still holds: America would be better off if (a) its budgets prioritized human intelligence over central intelligence and (b) it prepared its youth for the jobs of tomorrow instead of protecting the jobs of yesterday.

[Burt Schoeppe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting read.

I think 2020 Robert Reich would call to cancel 1997 Robert Reich. The ebonics alone were definitely from a different era.

I am now interested in what happened to transform Reich from traditional Northeastern liberal to avid social justice warrior.

[Melinda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really appreciated the candidness of this memoir, showing the good and the bad of trying to make change in Washington. Reading it today still seems very relevant, as the income equality that Reich highlighted has only grown.

[Vincent Gschwind Jr · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good insight to what was behind the curtains in the Clinton Administration. And it's not a pretty sight.

[Hank · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining account of the author's uncomfortable foray into politics and government administration during the Clinton campaign and Presidency.

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining look into the department of labor under Clinton. My dad worked in the bureau of labor statistics around this time so it’s neat to hear about what was going on from Reich’s perspective

[Liz Canella · Rating 5 out of 5]

Refreshing ( lady political book I read was “A very stable genius) and simultaneously depressing. Well written. Funny.

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Robert Reich tells us over and over again about how the Democratic Party will do everything in its power to keep itself from succeeding then ends the story with a metaphorical shoulder shrug.

[Nina · Rating 3 out of 5]

The overall premise and tone is intriguing and fun, but the end product is repetitive and – dare I say it – whiney.

I admire Reich and I believe in his mission re: connecting the poor and unskilled with good jobs. His “Leadership in Public Policy” course was the highlight of my Master’s degree. This book is his attempt to offer an insider perspective into how the ideals of a Presidential campaign platform get chewed up post-election by the Washington political meat-grinder and become something underwhelming at best and unrecognizable at worst.

The book is formatted as a sort of journal covering Clinton’s first term, from the perspective of a long-time personal friend turned campaign advisor turned Secretary of Labor. Entries offer a glimpse at the daily quandaries of a Cabinet Secretary – how to transition from managing one admin assistant to overseeing a department of 17,000+ employees, from being a freewheeling political gadfly within academia to a politically naïve Presidential representative, and – perhaps most painfully – from being Bill’s close, personal friend to a Presidential appointee to be managed by underlings.

Reich makes no secret of his deep disappointment that Clinton allowed himself to be nudged further and further right by the Federal Reserve, the ‘90s incarnation of the Tea Party, and reelection pollsters. Clinton, in these pages, is portrayed as waffling, tired, overwhelmed, pliant, and unwilling to take a hard stand to defend the principles upon which he was elected. Cabinet Secretaries are portrayed as campaign surrogates who articulate the President’s priorities in speeches and press events but whose time is always dominated by the urgent instead of the important. The national political process is portrayed as one where the seat of power belongs not to the President nor to Congress, but to whoever controls the national conversation (the media, via firmly articulated sound bites) and campaign finances (Wall Street).

There are some great bits. I particularly commend his reinterpretation of Department roles and his theatrical interpretation of Cabinet-level decision-making, though his “translations” of bland politico speak into blunt communication are always incisively funny.

As Reich repeatedly points out, the average tenure for a Cabinet Secretary is two years. Unsurprisingly, the narrative starts to drag and feel interminable and repetitive right around his two year mark. As his colleagues and collaborators become increasingly uninterested in Clinton’s original campaign platform (good jobs for all, decreasing the gap between the haves and the have-nots, rising income levels for all, etc), Reich starts to portray himself as the lone madman preacher, cajoling, threatening, lecturing, prophesying doom. In full compliance with the biblical trope as defined by Elijah or Jeremiah, Reich’s voice becomes increasingly shrill and didactic; his talking points are repeated every few pages. Over the course of the book, he transforms from a fervent believer raring to go, into a discouraged, jaded, tired, and uninspired cog in the political machine. Although it's a worthy story that needs to be told, it's not necessarily a fun one to read.

I recommend reading up until page 150 or thereabouts and then returning the library book.

[Tom Schulte · Rating 4 out of 5]

I completed my Metal Model Maker apprenticeship in 1995 and keep my Certificate of Completion of Apprenticeship framed in my office, next to my degrees. I consider it an on-par accomplishment.



I always figured it was signed by a machine, like the one Robert Reich tended in the office of Robert F. Kennedy at the humble start of his political career, as mentioned here in one of the many flashback recollections. Now, I feel I can hold some hope it may have been hand-signed, as this was during the United States federal government shutdowns of 1995–1996. My certificate is dated 28 November 1995 and in the closest entry here, 21 November, Reich recalls being alone in the cavernous Dept. of Labor building with a security guard and "There are still papers to be signed..."

In this personal memoir, Reich recalls being repelled by the manipulations of Fed head Alan Greenspan and Dick Morris. Reich sees Morris' downfall in a prostitute scandal, but more importantly to him the Family and Medical Leave Act, a raise to the minimum wage, and legs for the term "corporate welfare", apparently re-coined by Reich in his own mind.

Reich finds the role as Secretary of Labor unfulfilling and ineffectual in a presidency where only a handful hold real power and Bill Clinton lacked courage to match his convictions. This is insightful on how government really works (or doesn’t), the effects of such a career on family and peace of mind, and what it can be like trying to make job opportunities for the lower class in a government beholden to Wall Street and corporate heads.

Before Reich's tenure I had stumbled through the Job Training Partnership Act (JPTA) and knew its ineffectiveness for dislocated workers, so I appreciated his view to improving this area.