Hopefulness everywhere, and not just because it's the season to be jolly.The copilot of the plane back to Boston, as I exit: "Good luck to you and Mr. Clinton!"
The cabdriver from the airport: "We're counting on you guys!"
A fast-food worker at a McDonald's drive-thru: "You're gonna make a big difference, you and Clinton, for the ordinary people like me."
Shopping for gifts at Copley Plaza, a half-dozen or so well-wishes from the anonymous crowds: "Good luck!" "We're on your side!" "Stick up for the little guy, Mr. Secretary!" Smiles. Handshakes. A few fists in the air.
It's both comforting and alarming. How can we possibly fail with so much goodwill behind us? But how can we possibly succeed with expectations so high?
Tonight, as I tuck Sam in, he stares up at me and asks, "You're really going to help people, aren't you, Dad?"
"I hope so, Sam."
"You're going to help people get good jobs. That's what Mommy says."
"I'll try."
"I'm glad you're in Bill Clinton's cabinet, Dad."
Reporting in Slate, Jonathan Rauch noted that Reich's book contained numerous misquotations and entire scenes that bore little resemblance to the easily verifiable public events they described—including a press conference on the baseball strike, questions about the minimum wage by Rep. Jim Saxton (R-NJ) before the Joint Economic Committee, and a speech before the National Association of Manufacturers. Representatives Martin Olav Sabo (D-MN) and David Obey (D-WI), former congressional minority leader Robert Michel, and AFL-CIO President Lane Kirkland, all insist Reich misquoted them. Rauch noted that Reich's account often made his political opponents seem exceedingly belligerant and hostile, with the protagonist portrayed in a far more flattering light.
Responding to Rauch's column, Reich countered that the book was
intended as memoir, not as a strict "historical reportage," and as
such was based more on his impressions of events as detailed in his
notes and diaries. But in their exchange Rauch complained that Reich
repeatedly misquoted him and got facts wrong—even when recounting
the telephone conversation they had only the week before as part of
his research for the article.
Reich has dismissed Rauch's efforts to verify the book's factual content as "investigative journalism." Still, the later paperback edition contained numerous corrections that make the scenes described more accurate, while often preserving Reich's hallucinatory impressions. For example, Rep. Saxton is no longer depicted as jumping up and down in his chair "like a schoolboy" while berating Reich at the minimum wage hearings, but Reich still exaggerates the hostility displayed at the dully decorous event, claiming that Saxton "won't let me answer" when in fact Reich is later allowed time to deliver a lecture-length reply.
Rauch concludes that the book "makes some shrewd and unflattering comments about the Washington games of spinning and posturing; Reich portrays himself as an innocent who knows little of such things. But in fact, both as labor secretary and as memoirist, he plays the game as well as the next fellow."
