Surprise! Hillary Clinton's Big Campaign Speech Didn't Mention The Trade Deal - HuffPo

[WillyT]

Surprise! Hillary Clinton's Big Campaign Speech Didn't Mention The Trade Deal
The Huffington Post | By Igor Bobic
Posted: 06/13/2015 2:28 pm EDT Updated: 06/13/2015 2:59 pm EDT


Democratic presidential candidate and former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton arrives to speak to supporters on June 13, 2015, at Roosevelt Island in New York. (Photo: Julio Cortez) | ASSOCIATED PRESS

<snip>

Hillary Clinton paid lip service to just about every issue dear to progressive voters in her presidential campaign kickoff on Saturday, from paid sick leave, to LGBT rights, to climate change and student loan reform. But one issue she notably omitted from her speech to supporters at New York City's Roosevelt Island was the pending trade legislation that roiled Democrats in Congress merely a day prior.

The pressure on Clinton to clarify her stance on the controversial trade deal, known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership, has grown in recent weeks as former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders (I) -- her rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination -- have repeatedly urged her to do so. The issue came to a head on Friday, after President Barack Obama suffered an embarrassing defeat when House Democrats spurned his last-second personal appeal and voted against a measure that would have granted him the authority to fast-track the sweeping trade deal though Congress.

Clinton did make one reference to trade in her speech, but more as a general point in her argument that America ought to work better for the middle class.

"Advances in technology and the rise of global trade have created whole new areas of economic activity and opened new markets for our exports, but they have also displaced jobs and undercut wages for millions of Americans," she said.

Clinton's aides have pointed to the candidate's remarks in New Hampshire last month, where she voiced a number of "real concerns" about the major trade pact. Among those are currency manipulation and some health, environmental and labor provisions. But ultimately Clinton has refrained from taking a formal position on the agreement, saying that she would do so after she reviews the final deal.

"I want to judge this when I see exactly what is in it and whether or not I think it meets my standards," she said.

Yet progressives like Sanders and Sen. Elizabeth Warren...

<snip>

Link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/06/13/hillary-clinton-trade-deal_n_7576812.html

[zappaman]

1. Why would it? n/t

[Bonobo]

10. You're right. It's really nothing but a minor issue.

One that the president has been working tirelessly for the last 6 months or so to shove down the world's collective throat.

Now who you do you think yer jivin' with that cosmik debris?

[zappaman]

12. It is when discussing a candidates kickoff speech.

But I also didn't complain when Bernie didn't mention minor issues like immigration or equality in his kickoff speech so what do I know?

[JDPriestly]

18. Bernie Sanders' stances on immigration and equality are clear. We have only to Google

and we find speeches he made in Congress, etc. on these issues.

But Hillary has never expressed her opinion publicly on the TPP. Bernie has. When we Google Hillary and the TPP we find that she was the Sec. of State during the first phases of its negotiation and information that suggest that she supports it. Her past statements and conduct with regard to the TPP need to be clarified. Bernie's positions on equality and immigration are very clear to anyone who bothers to Google.

[TM99]

30. If you count her book as public

then yes, she stated it was the gold standard of trade agreements and that she worked on it as SoS.

[JDPriestly]

32. Thanks. I have not read her most recent book.

[BrotherIvan]

28. lol

[cascadiance]

26. Why should she care about a bill that would let corporate courts overturn our government's laws...

... and sue us to put us further in to debt, which this bill will also do by raising our trade deficit in the same fashion that all of the other so-called "free trade" bills have done when they reversed a trade surplus just before Reagan getting elected to the crap we have now that let's foreign entities buy up our national assets!

Oh, you ask "Why should anyone be concerned about that?" That's what's wrong when we don't care about this and someone not caring about this who is wanting our votes to lead this country!

[cantbeserious]

2. HRC - Hope And Change Redux - One Can't Bite The Hand That Feeds - America Never Seems To Learn

eom

[truebluegreen]

56. To paraphrase Jon Stewart: Learning curves are for wusses! nt

[cantbeserious]

57. So Then - America Is Forever To Be Duped By Corporate Candidates - How Pessimistic

eom

[truebluegreen]

59. I'm willing to be shocked by us learning from our mistakes. nt

[senseandsensibility]

3. I understand that TPTB have approved of Hillary,

and that being said, she will be the nominee. Got it. So, therefore, I expect absolutely nothing from her that "rocks the boat."
Because of this, I am grateful for Bernie and Martin. At least for a short time, the peoples' voices will be heard.

[sheshe2]

4. Your point?

TPP?

Bernie didn't mention PoC being murdered by police either?

So, your point?

[Fumesucker]

6. And then people complained about that and people complained about the complaining

And so on and so on.

And here we are.

Divided.

Mission accomplished for someone.

[BrotherIvan]

11. He is speaking about it on the campaign trail

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/06/14/1393108/-Bernie-Sanders-speaks-out-forcefully-against-mass-incarceration-and-abusive-policing-in-America

[WillyT]

15. Well...

Some cowed Democrats have fallen in line. According to The New York Times, New York’s Rep. Gregory Meeks has even been spreading word in the Congressional Black Caucus that denying the first African-American president this trade authority “smacks of bias.” As if low-wage workers in communities of color won’t be among the real losers once TPP goes into effect and more jobs disappear overseas where labor is cheap and workers too often are treated like dirt.

From: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026811560

[marym625]

16. Your point?

One has nothing to do with the other.

Hillary didn't mention people of color being murdered by police either.

So your point?

[JDPriestly]

19. Barnie was among the first if not the first politicians to express his support for

African-Americans in the time following the Ferguson killing.

The killing was August 9, 2014.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/08/14/michael-brown-ferguson-missouri-timeline/14051827/

By August 20, 2014, Bernie Sanders had not only responded to the killing but was proposing legislation to deal with the economic factors that are associated so often with brutality by police against minorities, especially African-American young people.

"When you see the kind of force that's been used in
Ferguson, it really does make it appear that the
police department there is an occupying army in a
hostile territory and that is absolutely not what we
want to see in the U.S."


Wednesday, August 20, 2014

In the wake of continuing unrest in Ferguson, Missouri, Sen. Bernie Sanders said on Wednesday that he will introduce legislation to address the national crisis of black youth unemployment. In a letter to Senate colleagues, Sanders called for a thorough federal investigation of the Aug. 9 death of an unarmed black teenager, Michael Brown, who was shot by a police officer in the St. Louis suburb. “We also must recognize, however, that there is an economic crisis facing our nation’s youth, particularly young African-Americans,” Sanders said. In the St. Louis metro area, almost half of young African-American men are unemployed, Sanders said. Nationwide, the youth unemployment rate today is more than 20 percent and African-American youth unemployment is nearly 35 percent.

“If we are going to address the issue of crime in low-income areas and in African-American communities, it might be a good idea that instead of putting military style equipment into police departments in those areas, we start investing in jobs for the young people there who desperately need them.”

(More below the orange squiggle...)

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/08/21/1323382/-Bernie-Sanders-Responds-To-Ferguson

Assumptions. Assumptions. Bernie Sanders marched with Martin Luther King, was active in the civil rights movement before many of his critics were even born and has an unassailable record of racial equality. Let's get real.

[marym625]

36. +1000

I have been saying that same thing. Many just ignore these facts

[merrily]

52. He spoke out about it before that, though. One of the first federal politicians to speak out

about Ferguson.

[madokie]

5. It won't matter

She'll never be the President of the United States of America

yes I'm a democrat and I will vote for her if she makes it to the general but no way will I before then

[AtomicKitten]

7. She's running a content-free campaign.

But her logo is the awesome. Rah-rah.

[zappaman]

13. She hasn't really started her campaign.

Today was the kickoff.
Rah-rah.

[AtomicKitten]

14. She announced her candidacy 4/12. Must be a Groundhog Day campaign.

[SoapBox]

20. Snap!

Good answer.

[Duckhunter935]

40. wonder when the next one will be?

[TheNutcracker]

54. that's funny. she chose a video, and cannot stand all the visuals of Bernie, so it's a redo!

[PatrickforO]

8. The trouble here is that by the time she is able to 'judge this,'

it will be TOO LATE, because the Obama Administration and Congressional Republicans are trying to ram it down our throats sight unseen. All we have, fortunately, is what has come out on WikiLeaks and that has been alarming.

I think Clinton is making a big mistake by not coming out against the TPP.

[WillyT]

9. + 1,000,000,000... What You Said !!!

[fadedrose]

17. How could she?

I thought she had a hand in writing it - did I hear wrong?

[Art_from_Ark]

21. She even called it the "gold standard in trade agreements"

and as recently as last year was extolling its "virtues".

http://www.npr.org/sections/itsallpolitics/2015/04/21/401123124/a-timeline-of-hillary-clintons-evolution-on-trade

[WillyT]

22. You Doin Ok ???

[Art_from_Ark]

24. Oh, I'm hanging in there

But all bets are off if they get this TPP rammed through.



By the way, I enjoy reading your OPs.

[WillyT]

25. Likewise...

[Art_from_Ark]

31. Keep up the OPs

You provide a lot of good information

[Scuba]

39. What Art from Arkansas said.

[cascadiance]

29. I wonder if she originally planned to talk about it when "it was too late" already on Saturday...

... when she and Obama had hoped that he would be able to sign it this weekend before things got "complicated" on Friday and it is going back to the Senate now. Since it isn't done, rather than her taking a stance on it now like perhaps she had earlier planned by having her speech on this weekend, she simply continued to do the strategy of avoiding talking about it.

This weekend was the perfect opportunity if she really wanted TPP to be stopped unless it had "good things" in it that Obama had promised to say it shouldn't be passed any more once the TAA provision was taken out of the bill that goes back before the Senate. Would have been a good excuse for her to have said the right thing and say, "the bill that is now before congress has now been made weaker and I can't support it any more". The timing offered the perfect opportunity to have her put her stamp on Democrats to stop it in congress now, which could ensure that TPA won't get passed. I'd be very thankful to her then if she were to have done that. Not commenting on it makes her appear to be more a part of the problem rather than the solution. She is just fueling more opposition from many of us that are concerned about this issue now. I'm also looking for newer candidates to primary Wyden in the Senate and Bonamici in the House too.

I might pull back from trying to get DeFazio to primary Wyden, if Wyden uses this opportunity to shut down the TPA in the Senate by using the same logic. That the TAA portion he fought to get put in the TPA bill has been removed in the version that is before him now, and that he and other senators can no longer support it. I think that might rescue him from facing a primary challenger in 2016.

[djean111]

42. That is the intention.

[Enthusiast]

23. Here we have the Democratic front runner that doesn't mention the trade deal.

The trade deal is one of the most important issues to many of us.

[davidpdx]

27. I don't expect her to

She's only interested in delivering the poll tested drivel in her speeches rather than taking a stance. At this point she's had her chance, let her sit back and wait until it passes or fails. I'm sure she's got a poll test answer ready in the event of either scenario.

[marym625]

35. I found the fact she only had 500 more people than Senator Sanders did

At his kick off, telling. Encouraging for Sanders.

I was also disappointed in her military part of the speech. Actually, I found it frightening.

The rest was predictable and veiled corporatism, except for Citizens United. And that part, while good to hear, makes me wonder why she is taking so much money from corporations

[davidpdx]

37. I haven't heard a word of any of her speeches and don't care to

I guess it's easy to ignore being over here in Korea with less political news.

[marym625]

38. You are not missing anything

Same old same old.

[thelordofhell]

33. Surprise! Hillary Clinton's Big Campaign Speech Didn't Mention Free Ponies For Everyone!

[99Forever]

47. Opposing the biggest piece of shit Corporate Giveaway, Job Killing deal ever attempted...

... is "free ponies for everyone?"

That's the stupidest defense of it I've ever heard, and I've heard some real doozies.

[marym625]

34. I forgot to K&R

K&R!





Bernie

#Bernie2016

[bigdarryl]

41. Fuck huffington post just another hit piece on Hillary

If she had mentioned it they would be saying she didn't go far enough

[murray hill farm]

50. I think that she did mention it.

At one point she was talking about negatives economically and listed some which included something she called "Quick Trade".

[Autumn]

43. No suprise at all. That would require a definite I'm for it or I'm against it.

Taking a stand is something of a risk for this Hillary. Which is sad because I don't remember her being timid, for lack of a better word, before.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

44. Hard choices

[Omaha Steve]

45. "I want to judge this when I see exactly what is in it...

That is why Fast Track should wait too.

[pampango]

46. Whatever she says about it some of us will take whatever she says to prove 1 of 2 things:

1) She's a liar; 2) She is not a real Democrat.

I hope Bernie wins the nomination, but I understand her strategy in that sense. At least on DU, whatever she says is not going to win her anything but more criticism.

I too wish all candidates would take public positions on important issues. Then we can consider their statements seriously and give them credit while considering whether they are consistent with, or a believable evolution from, their previous actions and statements.

[Dems to Win]

48. She didn't commit to the Fight for $15, either

She did say she supported raising the minimum wage, but she didn't mention a dollar amount.

Today, the two big issues I'm watching and calling leaders about are TPP and #FightFor15. Hillary gave a big speech and did not firmly ally herself with working people on the two big issues of the moment.

I noticed.

[Jesus Malverde]

49. Bump...nt

[merrily]

51. Mentioned FDR more than once, but no opinion on TPP, which she helped negotiate. k. nt

[99Forever]

53. If a candidate can't or won't address the issues I care about...

... then I can't support them. Ever.

I will not be duped again. I have had my fill of phony "liberals" and their destruction of the Middle Class and poor. Neoliberal pretenders have seen my last vote for them. Never again.

I WILL vote my conscience in every election.

[WillyT]

61. + 1,000,000,000 - What You Said !!!

[truebluegreen]

55. Well, I'm shocked.

Learning curves are for wusses.

[Mnpaul]

58. Her spokespeople didn't do any better on the Sunday talk shows

The one on Fox did poorly. She kept changing the conversation. Wallace asked about TPA and she kept spouting the TPP response and just kept talking(tactics used by Michele Bachmann and DWS). Stephanopolis had no luck either.

[SusanCalvin]

60. a) She's for it

b) She doesn't want to say so (unless it can't be removed, like in her book).

There ya go.