Could Someone Please Tell Me Why Obama Supports Fast Track and TPP

[QuestionAlways]

If Congress approves fast-track authority, many concerns about the TPP may not even be debated. Changes would not be allowed in ANY trade agreement’s language for 6 years. Lawmakers would have to decide whether to vote “yes” or “no” on any trade deal that may be flawed, but they would not be able to fix it. Fast track ties the hands of elected officials.

Members of Congress wouldn’t have a chance to amend TPP language that could cause all kinds of problems. It could endanger American food and consumer safety, undermine labor rules, eliminate Buy American provisions, weaken environmental protections, and even restrict the freedom of the Internet. Yet, the TPP does not even restrict currency manipulation by other countries.

If the TPP is good for the U.S., lawmakers shouldn’t be concerned about it being debated out in the open on the House and Senate floors. Under the Constitution, Congress is granted the sole authority to debate and approve trade legislation. Lawmakers need to do their job and take a good look at this secretive trade deal rather than rush it through without full inspection. A quick up or down vote will not give the TPP the scrutiny it needs. U.S. workers and industries deserve better.

So could someone please tell me why Obama, a President who I twice voted for, supports this?

[cali]

1. trust him!

He knows what's best!

[QuestionAlways]

4. I am asking why I should, give me one reason

I see lots of reasons to be against it, but not one reason to be for it.

[Scuba]

2. Same reason he does so many awful things.

He owes favors to Lloyd and Jamie.

[hifiguy]

16. THIS, and polichick's post immediately below.

Simple as can be.

[polichick]

3. His golf buddies stand to make money? The people who tagged him for the presidency...

stand to make money? He likes being in the club?

[pampango]

5. Three theories: "Bad guy", idiot or really believes in it.

The idea that Obama is a sell-out or spokesman for special interests is one real possibility. And one the majority of the republican base, which opposes the TPP and does not trust Obama, endorses.

Closely tied to that 'bad guy' theory would be the belief that his goal as president is to enrich himself and his family regardless of what happens to America's middle and working classes. Up to now I had viewed Obama as sometimes wrong (IMHO), but not as evil and corrupt enough to sell us out for personal gain. But I don't know him personally. He could be all those things.

Other than the 'bad guy' theory, there are two possible explanations. One is that he is an idiot - not evil or corrupt, just clueless. I doubt many of us - heck, even many republicans - would accuse him of being an idiot.

The other is that he really believes that the existing 'free trade agreements' with most of the TPP countries, Canada, Mexico, Australia, Chile, Singapore and Peru needed to be 'renegotiated' and the WTO rules applied to the other countries improved upon.

Take your pick.

[QuestionAlways]

9. But any renegotiation should also be reviewed by congress, not a reason

[pampango]

11. Indeed. It should and will. Unlike the Iranian and Cuban agreements and the recent

environmental agreements with China and India.

[QuestionAlways]

20. But Fast Track will limit the time

to debate any trade agreement and make it impossible to amend them for the next six years. Congress will be giving up a Constitutional power, having no idea what the country gets in return. No fast track and no TPP (at least until we know what is in it.)

[pampango]

25. True, but it will be approved or rejected by Congress. As it should be.

If congress votes to limit its own ability to amend and filibuster an agreement, it has every right to do so. If it decides not to do that, my guess is that Obama will not submit an agreement to a republican congress that has the ability to strip out any progressive aspects that might be included in it.

I doubt that corporate America will be too unhappy with NAFTA and the other 4 free trade agreements along with WTO rules for the other TPP countries staying in place indefinitely.

[GoneFishin]

28. Fast track is a scam which allows Congress to shirk it's Constitutional duty, and to

avoid accountability. By having the vote be constrained to a straight up or down vote no individual congress person can be blamed for any individual provision in TPP even though they may have been instrumental, behind the scenes, in getting that provision inserted.

It also limits the ability of the dissenting minority to remove onerous but extremely profitable trojan horse provisions.

It's a a greedy, sleazy scam which would be entirely unnecessary if TPP wasn't destined to spike the stock price of Friskies, Purina, and Fancy Feast.

[procon]

29. Actually Congress and the public will be able review it.

"Trade promotion authority gives Congress the right to accept or reject a trade deal but not amend or filibuster it. But the new bill before both the Senate Finance and House Ways and Means committees this week lays out new requirements for openness and review. The president would have to notify Congress of the accord’s completion 90 days before he intends to sign it, a delay similar to past requirements. But in a new twist, the full agreement would have to be made public for 60 days before the president gives his final assent and sends it to Congress. Congress could not begin considering it for 30 days after that."

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/22/business/obama-fast-track-pacific-trade-deal.html?_r=0



The objections hinge on the fact that congress can't alter the initial agreement, but afterward a 'timeout' period they can. Given that the Republicans have the majority, I can only imagine what they would add at the behest of all their corporate pals, so maybe that's a good thing, I dunno. I'll wait to see what's in it like everyone else.

[LondonReign2]

13. I vote option three, Really Believes It

Unfortunately, we have to remember the lens by which the President views these things; namely, he describes his own economic policies as mainstream 1980s Republican.

So is he a Bad Guy? No, he is just terribly wrong on economic issues. Basically, we have a guy with the same economic policies as Bob Dole sitting in the White House.

[TexasProgresive]

6. Can't tell you but most presidents of my life time

seem to be high on knocking down international trade barriers. Maybe they think it will give us an advantage, but since we don't manufacture a whole lot of stuff anymore maybe that is wishful thinking.

[QuestionAlways]

12. But most international trade barriers have already been knocked down

in bilateral agreements which have been already passed. And We have been told, our major concern of currency manipulation is not addressed in the TPP. I still see no reason to fast track it

[Warren Stupidity]

7. Comfortable post presidency retirement assurance program.

[hifiguy]

17. And this.

He has seen the way the Clintons have been so lavishly rewarded for the services they rendered to the billionaire class and wants in on the action after he leaves the WH. He sure as shit ain't gonna be building Habitat for Humanity houses with Jimmy Carter.

[GoneFishin]

30. Habitat for Humanity? Yeah. Him and Rahm Emanuel. NOT.

[Hoyt]

8. Congress can, and will, debate in open. They'll debate overall agreement and vote for or against it.

Or, if they find something they really dislike, they could just tell Obama they will have to vote "No" if he doesn't get the other 11 countries to agree to a change.

My guess is that it will be good enough for a significant number of Democrats -- like Gerry Connolly -- to support it for our long-term future, once they stop playing politics with it.

[QuestionAlways]

21. It is Liberals, Progressives and Democrats who are mainly against it.

look at https://www.stopfasttrack.com
for a list of all the organizations and the reasons that they are against it. Including
350.org
AFL-CIO
American Civil Liberties Union
American Friends Service Committee
Ask Them
Backbone Campaign
BCTGM International Union
Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream
boingboing
Campaign for America's Future
Cheezburger Inc.
Citizen's Environmental Coalition
Citizens Trade Campaign
Coalition for a Prosperous America
Code Pink
Communication Workers of America
Corporate Accountability International
CREDO Action
CyberGuerrilla AnoNneXus collective
Delaware Riverkeeper Network
Demand Progress
Democracy for America
Electronic Frontier Foundation
Fair World Project
Family Farm Defenders
Fight for the Future
Firedoglake
Flush the TPP!
Food and Water Watch
Free Press
Free Software Foundation
Friends of the Earth
Global Exchange
Global Justice for Animals and the Environment
GMO Action Alliance
GMO Free USA
GMO Inside
imgur
Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy
International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers
International Forum on Globalization
International Rivers
Jobs With Justice
Labor Notes
LaMav
MoveOn.org
Namecheap
New York Working Families
NorthWest Media ULC
NuWorld Media
Occupy Coachella Valley
Open Media International
Organic Consumers Association
Pirate Party
Pirate Party Oklahoma
Popular Resistance
Private Internet Access
Progressive Change Campaign Committee
Progressive Congress
Progressive Democrats of America
Public Citizen
Rainforest Action Network
Sea Shepherd
Sierra Club
SOA Watch
South Florida Voices for Working Families
St. Pete for Peace
SumOfUs
Teamsters
techdirt
The Episcopal Network for Economic Justice
The Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace
ThoughtWorks
Thunderclap
United for Action
United Students for Fair Trade
US Action
Washington Fair Trade Coalition
Water Keeper Alliance
Witness for Peace
Women's International League for Peace and Freedom
YourAnonNews

These are not playing politics with it, they think it is bad for our long term future.

You have defended Fast Track by saying it will not change things much, but you still have not given me a positive reason to be for it

[Joe Turner]

26. Any debate on TPP with fast track is meaningless

when just about every member of Congress is totally in the dark about this legislation because it has been kept secret from the public and Congress from day one. Good for our long-term future huh? Maybe good for paid corporate propagandists. The rest of us will see more wealth and job losses in our future. Keep on spinning though.

[Hoyt]

31. For something so secret, you sure seem to know a lot about it.

[Joe Turner]

32. We can thank Wikileaks and several others

for bringing some of the TPP passages to light over the years, despite constant efforts of the authors to keep it under wraps. Even now they won't open up the legislation for review by the very folks that have to vote up or down on it. How do you feel about that?

[Hoyt]

33. Simple, the agreement isn't finished.

[Joe Turner]

34. Now that's funny

There is no "The End" to this trade pact. They will be adding to the TPP until it's put up for vote.

[Hoyt]

35. Good.. You are finally starting to get it.

[Joe Turner]

36. Actually I had it figured out ohhh a couple of decades ago

Maybe more. Amidst the great changes in this country good and bad some things remain the same. What the ruling class wants the ruling class gets...until things get really bad. And then there are shills.

[Katashi_itto]

10. To give cover to Hillary so she doesn't have to say anything about it. Until it's to late.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

14. because sacrificing our most valuable industries for the limited benefit of dead one's is dumb

The manufactures of America's most valuable exports face brutal competition from foreign competitors who are at worst their equals and often superior plus all too often US manufacturers struggle with an illogically strong US dollar. To sit this out puts foreign competitors at an even greater advantage because they can hide from their US competitors behind a wall of currency and tariff.

In most countries people can have an adult conversation about these things, but this issue has been so poisoned that people would go berserk today trying to negotiate the original FTA's with Canada and Israel.

That the US has yet to ratify a free trade agreement with the European Union should be a national embarrassment.

[Hoyt]

18. +1. Looks like we are in a "race to the bottom" trading among ourselves because of chronic myopia.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

22. I'm frustrated by the inherent ignorance and or dishonesty of it all

If someone wants to claim that a free trade agreement with Elbonia is threatening to America's last paper doily factory, okay, that's at least plausible. But in the same breath that person will say that there is nothing wrong with trading with our equals. But then look how hard fought the free trade agreement with South Korea was. The usual band of idiots even protested free trade with Australia.

I wait with baited breath to hear about the Dicksonian child-labor fueled factories of Western Europe that stand at the ready to steal American jerbs when the opinion leaders decide it's time to hyperventilate about the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership.

I deal with this stuff for a living, but I would rather entertain Mormon's or Jehovah's Witnesses on my doorstep than get into a conversation about trade in the US.

[LiberalAndProud]

15. I suspect

it was a condition of employment. There are certain compromises a candidate with financial backing must be prepared to make. Maybe we should ask Penny Pritzker about that.

[Romulox]

19. Simple. The President's 2nd term is almost up. The ex-Presidency can be a very lucrative gig. nt

[moondust]

23. Surrounded by Wall Streeters?

Cornel West was railing about the wrong kind of people surrounding this President way back in the first term. Here he objects to Larry Summers in 2009:

Cornel West INTERVIEW: Don't Appoint Larry Summers As An Economic Adviser And Tell Me You're Progressive

Someone surrounded by cheerleaders from only one team may not be committed enough personally to buck their agenda. How many average working Americans were in the inner circle closely advising Bill Clinton or currently President Obama?

Stiglitz has suggested governments have been "captured":

All over the world, trade ministries are captured by corporate and financial interests.

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/03/15/on-the-wrong-side-of-globalization/?_r=1

I'd probably call it "seduced."

[tritsofme]

24. President Obama deserves an up or down vote. Amending is the same as rejecting

That's why the agreement needs to be considered under TPA.

Obama cannot be a credible negotiator without TPA. If Congress can overturn the fine points of a multi-party back and forth negotiation line by line, then Obama's word is meaningless, and his partners could not trust him or his commitments.

It is not practical to have 536 people at the negotiating table. But TPA gives Congress a voice by setting objectives for the USTR, direct oversight, and detailed status reports on the negotiations.

If it is a bad agreement, Congress should reject it. But President Obama deserves to get an up or down vote on the deal that he negotiates.

[guillaumeb]

27. cui bono/follow the money

While a majority of President Obama's donations came from the bottom 99%, a large part of his MONEY came from the FIRE complex. Finance, insurance and real estate.
Both candidates were well funded by Wall Street and big business.

I am not saying the two parties are the same, but both are dependent on big contributors, especially in the post Citizen United v. FEC era.