Robert Reich fired up a small group of John Kerry supporters outside Beaumont Tower Thursday.
Reich, who served as secretary of labor under former president Bill Clinton, told about 25 people why he endorses the Democratic presidential candidate.
"I have known John Kerry for 25 years, and I know he will make a terrific president," Reich said. "George W. Bush has been the worst president since Millard Fillmore, and that's an insult to Fillmore. He doesn't deserve a second term."
MSU Board of Trustees candidate Phil Thompson and democratic congressional candidate Bob Alexander stood with students decked out in Kerry gear at Beaumont Tower.
Earlier Thursday, Reich lectured a larger group in the MSU College of Law about the problems in the labor market that have occurred under the current administration.
"In the last 25 years, what has happened most dramatically in the U.S. is that we've seen the job ladder, in terms of income and wealth, get longer, with every rung wider apart," Reich said.
Students at the event sponsored by MSU's School of Labor and Industrial Relations, said they liked the focus on current issues.
"The part I enjoyed the most is that he addressed the issues," said labor relations and human resources graduate student Natalie Zien, who has studied books written by Reich. "He gave his opinion on the current administration and the future.
"This was a great opportunity to hear an author I admire speak. I had him sign his book for me - it was the only one I didn't sell back my freshman year."
Reich criticized the president's approach to stimulating the economy in his speech at the law college.
"A tax cut could stimulate the economy if it were directed at people who would spend the extra money they get," Reich said. "But if that tax cut is mostly directed at rich people, rich people already spend as much as they want to spend. That's the definition of being rich."
John Beck, associate director of MSU's School of Labor and Industrial Relations, said bringing Reich to students gives them the opportunity to learn more about labor policy.
"Riech is someone who knows how labor policy works in the epicenter of the U.S.," Beck said. "He understands what can be done and what can't be done. This is a guy who knows how it works."
