I am sure he has more expertise than most on here. I guess if someone doesn't agree one hundred percent, they are being unfair to Obama. What gives?

Others that have looked at the bailout,on Obama's side, have also been critical.Aren't we to look at all views?

On the other hand, Reich is critisized for past work with Clinton, so somehow ten years later he's irrelevant,while Obama has all those other Clinton ex people{Summner,Geithner } working for him and they are great.

Somehow I don't get it, if something goes wrong, instead of those in power changing it, they just blame Clinton and the old standby they must have supported hillary and haven't gotten over it

For having as head of Homeland Security, a woman who is so completely inept that she not only compares the Canadian border to the Mexican one, but still perpetuates the myth about the 9/11 terrorists coming from Canada. She continuously makes claims that the busiest, most financially lucrative border in the world, was once a border in name only - which anyone with a brain knows to be false, and which she wouldn't actually know, because she's never been anywhere near it.

This is the person in charge of security in the US? That must make you all feel safe.

Could you be, shamelessly, more of a socialist? I doub't it.

You don't bring about change by simply installing a person in the White house, sympathetic to your progressive goals (although that's better than having someone hostile there). As Studs Terkel would say, "hope springs from the bottom up". Putting all one's hope in one man (however nice he may be) is akin to putting all one's money on a game of Chemin de fer in the belief that it will result in millions. That doesn't mean we can't nudge President Obama in the right direction and agitate for the things we want to be done. If you want single payer universal health care then why aren't Americans in their droves taking to the streets and fighting for it. It's not going to come down to you like manna from heaven. Of course I would like to President Obama to outlaw torture (it's barbaric and those who practice it, evil); to reform your horrible prison system; to curb his Geithnerism and appoint someone not connected to Wall street; to nationalize (that is, socialize) banks and make them work for the public and not for the shareholders.

On the other hand, he's been good to women and he is appointing good people to some of the more middle range regulatory bodies (the consumer department). I'm sure his judicial appointments will be promising as well and that eventually he will nationalize the banks (not, as some have said, giving us defacto nationalization).

But then again...

But I basically agree with Mr. Reich here and think it is a worthwhile article. TARP did not begin on Obama's watch, but it is fair to assign him the blame for allowing it to continue. The banks need to be nationalized, at least the ones that are in serious trouble. The ones that are really messed up need to die. Do Not Feed the Zombies.

@Jeannette

Nothing Bush did was good enough, probably because he didn't think about what he was doing, but possibly because he was trying to invalidate the idea of a federal government. I don't want to argue with Andrew Jackson's or James Buchanan's detractors, but George W. Bush was from my perspective our worst president ever. He gets Fs in everything.

Say a 'C' is 'no material effect on the country,' a 'D' is 'Detrimental,' and an 'F' is 'Disastrous.' Policies can be disastrous while being far better than Bush-era policies, and the bailout's a disaster.

I don't understand why this is a front page story on Salon, given that it's a) so short b) so lacking in analysis, and c) basically just a repost of Robert Reich's blog. This is something to post in War Room, not on the front page.

You want us to give the Boom Boom dollars to the hungry people?

Aren't we already doing that, one hellfire at a time?

Robert Reich is a voice in the room when decisions get made, ergo he's not to be trusted and is probably in somebodies pocket.

Nothing personal, Bob, it just always seems to turn out that way.

While it may be true that we're are all doomed to a future roughly based on the movie "Road Warrior" I can't bring myself to trade the last of my go juice for this guys magic beans.

Weren't you and Casey Jones driving this train, Bob?

I, too, have mixed feelings about the first 100 days. One promise that I really hope Obama fulfills is his intent to make the UN Millennium Goals the policy of the United States. The U.S. should be doing way more to address the Millennium Development Goals. The plan to end world hunger has been getting seriously ignored.

$30 billion: Annual shortfall to end world hunger.

$550 billion: U.S. Defense budget.

(source: borgenproject.org.)

OnTheBeat ..... You are right that Bush never bowed to Abdullah ; he just kissed him and held hands with him and carried on the family business with him, which had saved W from bankruptcy a couple of times.

to give 60-second mini-commentaries on NPR's "Marketplace" as the token liberal, then give the print equivalent here while garbed as some sort of wise pragmatist. I agree with letter writers who have said that these potshot quickies he's been writing are too glib, too superficial; we expect and need more from Reich.

How about a long, detailed chronicle of his role in formulating the Clinton Administration's economic policies? I'd love to know how and why the decisions were made that prolonged and deepened, the deregulatory, anti-labor climate that Clinton inherited from Reagan and Bush Sr. Maybe in giving us that story he could explain what standing he has to opine about the current situation.

While I generally agree with your assessments, although I think you are a little generous (grade inflation I guess) I take serious issue with the idea that universal health insurance is a positive step It is not; Universal Health Care is. Every study I have seen shows that private insurance is the least effective and most costly and wasteful way to provide health care. 30% of all health care dollars are wasted right off the top. This not to even mention the bureaucratic bungling and miserable delivery provided. Insurance adds nothing to health care and significantly decreases overall health. That is why we rank last or nearly last in every measure of health in the industrialized world. The American public overwhelmingly supports a single payer system. Only the politicians who have been bought off by the insurance industry stand between us and truly effective health care. I am afraid that on this issue, Obama must be added to the list of bad guys.