Hillary Clinton’s smartest move: Say no to TPP
<snip>
For these reasons and others, I think the time is now for Clinton to announce she’s against giving the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) the “fast-track” treatment. In terms of politics and policy, it’s the right thing to do. And with liberal anger toward Obama at a TPP-induced peak — and with Sen. Bernie Sanders challenging her from her left — circumstances could hardly be better. She should do it, and she should do it soon.
There are arguments against her reaching and/or announcing a stance of opposition, of course, on grounds of policy as well as politics. It’s just that none of them are especially good. Yes, there may be something awkward about a onetime NAFTA champion opposing the TPP. But Clinton has begun walking away from elements of her husband’s record already, and it’s hard to imagine how distancing herself from one of his most controversial and unpopular initiatives will hurt. A willingness to change your mind, provided it’s for good reasons, can even be a plus.
And, yes, taking a dissenting stance on TPP will no doubt surprise and anger some of her wealthiest donors. They’ll no doubt trash her in the elite press and claim she’s just pandering. But Clinton’s got so much backing from the Democratic 1 percent that she’ll be in no risk of running out of funding — and in the extremely unlikely event that the Forbes 400 stops taking her calls, she can always rely on some of her own vast wealth. (Besides, there’s a good chance the rest of the 1 percent will simply follow Wall Street’s lead and assume she’s full of shit.)
That answers the big questions on the political side, and the policy argument is even easier. President Obama can parse language as much as he likes — that’s what a law degree is for, after all — but Sen. Elizabeth Warren is familiar with the Harvard Law campus, too, and she’s not lying when she describes fast-tracking TPP as equivalent to “greasing the skids.” If fast-track passes and Congress can vote on the deal — but not amend it — the pressure to approve it will be enormous. There’s a reason the supporters of fast-track’s arguments are so anti-democratic.
The fast-track bill has clearly become a proxy for the entire TPP, so if Clinton opposes it, the political class will no doubt frame it as Clinton acquiescing in the face of a hoi polloi revolt. But although that would be stupid on the merits — unless Nobel Prize-winning economists like Paul Krugman and Joseph Stiglitz are now considered to be among the ignorant masses — it would frankly be politically advantageous for Clinton. It’s the safe bet in reality, upon close inspection. But the political press isn’t big on details; they’ll say Clinton’s move was surprisingly bold.
<snip>
http://www.salon.com/2015/05/02/hillary_clintons_smartest_move_say_no_to_tpp_and_join_the_warrenkrugman_forces/
= new reply since forum marked as read
