Trade war heating up among Democrats

[Surya Gayatri]

“The answer is not only no but hell no,” Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) said when asked whether he backs pending legislation to smooth the path for President Obama to complete a major trade deal in the Asia-Pacific region. (James Lawler Duggan/Reuters)

Hillary Rodham Clinton and other top Democrats began feuding over President Obama’s trade initiative Tuesday as his bid for a major late-term win began tearing at the party’s unity and threatened to expose old divisions ahead of the 2016 presidential election.

The tensions broke into public view after Clinton hedged during her first remarks on whether she would support an Obama-backed trade package that is gaining traction in Congress but is opposed by some on the party’s politically potent liberal wing.

“Any trade deal has to produce jobs and raise wages and increase prosperity and protect our security,” Clinton said during a tour of a community college in Concord, N.H., that focuses on technical skills. “We have to do our part in making sure we have the capabilities and the skills to be competitive.”

Her remarks, which echoed a noncommittal statement from her presidential campaign late last week, placed her in an uncomfortable spot between the pro-business and pro-labor wings of the party. The trade issue is being closely watched by liberals who would prefer a more adamantly left-leaning candidate to carry the Democratic banner.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trade-war-heating-up-among-democrats/2015/04/21/65921dc6-e85f-11e4-aae1-d642717d8afa_story.html?hpid=z4

[cali]

1. this is fast becoming the issue in the campaign and it won't be going away

not in the primary, not in the general. Remember what a huge issue Nafta was? TPP will be bigger- and it's sister, the TTIP will soon become another issue.

[Surya Gayatri]

2. Good job the dispute is coming to a head now, 18 months befor the election,

rather than a month or two before.

[cali]

3. oh, it's going to be a big issue in the GE

[GoneFishin]

5. You have to wonder if the planned timing was intended to be more politically convenient

but because of the leaks of the TTP documents the timing was screwed up.

[rurallib]

10. of course it is timed for political convenience

Americans can't remember anything for more than a week.
Granting fast track could have been done many times in the past and almost any time in the future. Politicians know that the American public has the attention span of a gnat and right now (spring, before graduations and vacation) politics is pretty much invisible to most.

[Enthusiast]

14. There are no coincidences.

[Omaha Steve]

11. x 2

K&R!

OS

[Novara]

4. Damn right!

"The trade issue is being closely watched by liberals who would prefer a more adamantly left-leaning candidate to carry the Democratic banner. "

[appalachiablue]

16. +1 For sure, it's about time for a re-direct

[marmar]

6. Another triangulating non-answer from Clinton

Sigh

[RiverLover]

8. +1

I'm even sighing with you. marmar. This is our strong leader? God help us.

[GoneFishin]

7. Right wingers don't hedge, they go in for the kill. When our candidates hedge and moderate

their stances, term after term, the end result is a continuous creep toward fascism.

[rurallib]

12. they have to steal as much as they can as fast as they can

someday maybe the electorate may wake up.
Far as I am concerned it is already way too late.

[GoneFishin]

17. I suspect that you are right.The apologists for the corporatists are to blame. Years of them sowing

discord among the left by apologizing for corporatists has staved off any discussion of how to fix the problem by devolving every discussion into a debate about whether there is, or is not a problem.

[beerandjesus]

9. Gotta say, I like Harry Reid a lot more since his eye got fucked up

1. Look how badass he looks in that picture!

2. For years we've been hearing about how he was a tough former boxer, but in public he was always measured. Now he seems like he's just plain over it, and not having any shit from anyone any more.

Good for him! I actually hope he reconsiders that retirement business!!

[justiceischeap]

13. He doesn't have to worry about reelection now. nt

[PatrickforO]

15. The first trap for Secretary Clinton.

She has three options:

She can come out pro-business and support the pro-business (Republican lite) wing of the Democratic Party.

She can follow her conscience instead of her donors and come out against an agreement that would hurt both American jobs and the world's environment. This is the populist position.

OR

She can waffle and avoid answering the question.

The pro-business and waffling options will lose her the election. The populist position will win.