Reading Robert Reich, a “Wee Little Man”

“Zacchaeus Was a Wee Little Man” is a children’s song that those of us who grew up going to Sunday School sang and taught our children to sing. This blog post is about Robert Reich, who is a contemporary “wee little man” and also one of the most articulate political pundits in the U.S. today. (Note that he pronounces his name Rike, rhyming with bike and like.) 

Reich with Clinton in the 1990s

Robert Bernard Reich is a political economist, professor, author, and commentator who served as U.S. Secretary of Labor under President Bill Clinton (1993~97) and also served in the Ford and Carter administrations. He was named by Time magazine as one of the ten most effective cabinet members of the 20^th century. Next week (on June 24), he will celebrate his 80^th birthday. 

Reich was born with multiple epiphyseal dysplasia, also known as Fairbank’s disease. That is a rare genetic disorder that affects bone growth and results in short stature. Reich stands 4 feet 11 inches tall, so he is 9 or 10 inches shorter than the average White U.S. male of the same age.

As Reich himself explained to NPR in 2023, his shortness is a kind of deformity in which the cartilage at the end of one’s bones that normally adds additional bone during growth simply doesn’t do its job. But that deformity didn’t keep him from doing his job as a professor at Harvard (1981~92), Brandeis (1997~2005), and the University of California, Berkeley, from 2006 to 2023.

Last year Reich published Coming Up Short: A Memoir of My America, referring both to his stature and to a country that he thinks has fallen short of its ideals.

Every day, I read four political pundits, the posts by Heather Cox Richardson, Reich, Joyce Vance, and Paul Krugman. Richardson usually posts after midnight, so I read her early every morning. Reich usually posts at least once every day, and I generally read one of his articles daily before noon also.  

I don’t know why it is, but so many public intellectuals, such as the ones just mentioned except for Richardson, are Jewish by heritage and identity but not by religious observance. This is clearly the case with Reich. His essays often echo the Hebrew Bible’s twin imperatives of justice and righteousness, such as those found in Isaiah 1:17 and Amos 5:24.

I find the posts by the scholars/commentators just mentioned are more beneficial than the curated articles in The New York Times and/or The Washington Post, of which I have cancelled my subscription as I no longer want to read a newspaper with a billionaire determining its editorial content.

In addition to reading Richardson’s daily newsletters, I also encourage you to read Reich’s Substack posts, which are also available at no charge. As one who is no longer receiving a paycheck from some institution, Reich can (and does) say what he thinks is most important, letting the chips fall where they may. Even though he is a “wee little man,” he certainly stands tall.

Reich’s June 16 Substack post is especially noteworthy. It is titled “Friendly advice I refuse to take.” (I encourage you to click on the link and read the entire article.) Next Wednesday will be Reich’s 80^th birthday, and the “friendly advice” was from an old friend of about the same age. Reich said he “lost it” when his friend told him, “You’ve got to slow down.”

The “wee little man” retorted, “We’re in a national emergency!” So, “That’s exactly why I’m not slowing down!” He goes on to say, “I’m doing what I do because—and as long as—I’m still able to.”

I am about eight years older than Reich, and to be honest, I am thinking about “retiring” in two years when I turn 90. But that is not definite at this point. Maybe I will keep on doing what I am doing, which is mainly writing three blog articles each month, as long as I’m still able to do so.

Gordon Cosby (1918~2013), the co-founder of the Church of the Saviour in Washington, D.C., was widely regarded as one of the most influential pastors of the 20^th century. He is quoted as saying that “a minister never retires; we are simply reassigned to new forms of service.”

For Cosby, vocation was never a job description but a lifelong posture of availability—an openness to whatever work love requires next. Even in his nineties, long after most clergy had stepped away from public ministry, Cosby kept showing up in small, quiet ways: listening, blessing, encouraging, and standing with those on the margins.

So, like Cosby did and Reich is seeking to do, I want to keep on seeking to do good and trying to write well for as long as I am able.

[Note: Research and writing assistance was provided by Claude (Anthropic) A.I.]