Obama and Sanders battle over TPP and the Democratic platform

[DonViejo]

By David Weigel

As he faced the press in Ottawa today, flanked by other leaders of NAFTA signatories, President Obama argued that both the right and left were misleading people about the challenges of global trade. It was true, he said that workers left out of economic growth were growing angrier. As they did so, "the social cohesion and political consensus needed for liberal market economies starts breaking down," as seen in the Brexit vote. But their anger was being misdirected.

"The prescription of withdrawing from trade deals and focusing solely on your local market, that's the wrong medicine," he said. "You are right to be concerned about the trends, but what you're prescribing will not work."

There was no mystery about who on the right and left Obama was talking to. At a rally in Pennsylvania, Donald Trump said that the president and presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton were wrong to back the Trans Pacific Partnership. In an op-ed published in today's New York Times, Sen. Bernie Sanders told readers that Trump was wrong about the solution but right about the threat.

"We need to fundamentally reject our 'free trade' policies and move to fair trade," wrote Sanders. "Americans should not have to compete against workers in low-wage countries who earn pennies an hour. We must defeat the Trans-Pacific Partnership. We must help poor countries develop sustainable economic models."

With that back-and-forth, Sanders and Obama elevated a debate that has gone on in public and private for years. It has intensified since Sanders began winding down his campaign for president and focusing on changes to the Democratic platform. According to people with knowledge of the platform negotiations, Sanders used his post-primary meeting with the president to say he would push for the party to officially oppose the TPP. The president said he would now allow it. And since then, the White House has leaned on key Democrats to make sure that the platform did not include a rebuke.

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/06/29/obama-and-sanders-battle-over-tpp-and-the-democratic-platform/?wpisrc=nl_politics&wpmm=1

[mia]

1. Why does our President promote the TPP?

Wish I knew. I think that voters in our country are more concerned about their jobs than any other issue. We all want our families to do more than just barely survive.

[geek tragedy]

2. I have a feeling that the Democratic party will side with the leader of the Democratic

party instead of an Independent/non-Democrat who's refusing to endorse the party's nominee in the general election.

Call it a hunch.

[mia]

3. Isn't Clinton also against the TPP?

Do we have to agree with our President on every issue?

[geek tragedy]

4. Clinton is against this version of it, but presumably would be open to renegotiations.

Sanders not only wants to kill this version of the TPP, he wants to abandon any attempts to renegotiate it, and he wants to close the ports to goods from low wage countries like India and Vietnam.

[DonViejo]

5. Yes, she is opposed...

Congressman Elijah Cummings, another Congressman of Puerto Rican descent and an AFSCME Union rep on the committee led the charge against NOT opposing the TPP. All three used the rationale of not wanting to oppose the President, the leader of the Party.

[MohRokTah]

6. THAT'S MY PRESIDENT!!!!

TAKE THEM DOWN, PRESIDENT OBAMA!!!!!

[MineralMan]

7. At this point, Bernie Sanders has one vote in the US Senate.

No more than that. He has influenced the Democratic Party Platform for 2016 about all he can at this point. He will return to the Senate as one Senator out of 100. He may run again in 2018 and continue that work.

President Obama will act as President until January 2016. If we turn out the votes, Hillary Clinton will take his place as President. We have only one President at a time. Bernie Sanders will not have that position. He will be a Senator.

The voters have spoken, and will speak again in November. Those are the realities. Those are the things we have decided on and will decide on in November.

Primary Season is Over!

Hillary 2016!