Robert Reich has written the piece, Why Democrats Should Disregard Bill Clinton’s Endorsement of Obama’s Tax Deal.

In his article, Robert Reich said the following:

I admire Barack Obama and Bill Clinton. I advised the former and worked for the latter. They are good men. But they have either been outwitted by the privileged and powerful of America, or seduced by those on Wall Street and the executive suites of America into believing that the Republican nostrums are necessary, or succumbed Democratic advisors who think in terms of small-bore tactics rather than large and principled strategies.

Remember that Bill Clinton fell for the advice of Robert Rubin on financial deregulation and probably the Glass-Steagall act repeal that led to the recent financial crisis.  Bill Clinton is also the President who compromised with Republicans over the objections of Democrats on issues of free trade.  Clinton has demonstrated that he does not have a good eye for detecting the long term pitfalls of what appear to be good short term compromises.

There is nothing wrong with the concepts of deregulation and free trade when applied in a sensible manner.  Bill Clinton and Barack Obama appear to believe that you can compromise with people who want to implement concepts in a non-sensical manner.  In two cases where Clinton tried this it led to disaster.

How many times can we go down this road before we run out of second chances?  How many times can you pull the trigger on a six chambered revolver with five empty chambers, before you lose the game?  With Russian Roulette, you know the number is no more than 5, but it could be as low as 1.