Daily Beast – ‘Left to Hillary: You’re a Phony’

At The Daily Beast, David Freedlander writes:

Liberals have spent much of the past year trying to pull Hillary Clinton to the left, even betting behind a phantom Elizabeth Warren candidacy to exert pressure on her. But now that Clinton in the early going of her campaign sounds a lot like the senator from Massachusetts, progressives should be pretty pleased.

But several leading figures of American liberal groups say that, so far, they are not much impressed.

…

Robert Reich, a longtime Clinton friend and former Secretary of Labor in the Bill Clinton White House, said Hillary deserved credit for her language on CEO pay and taxes, but added that most of what Clinton has discussed so far on the campaign trial would not do much to alter the structural reasons for the widening inequality.

If Clinton wants to reassure the progressive base, he added, she should call for the restoration of Glass-Steagall (which her husband dismantled) and break up the big banks.

It is one thing to call for higher taxes on hedge fund managers, a continued Democratic talking point, he said, it is another to talk about restoring workers’ bargaining power and making it easier for workers to organize.

Read the entire piece.