MSNBC: And it shines the spotlight on Hillary’s non-position on trade

[Omaha Steve]

This is not intended to be an attack on Hillary. I'm just pointing out in the last few days before the fast track vote she still is fence sitting. She doesn't get a pass anymore than the US House D's voting with the POTUS.

I've said several times in the couple of months if she wins the nomination I will vote for her in Nov. 2016 (health permitting). But an OP last week about Bernie fans hating Hillary and getting lots of positive follow up only makes the divide between the camps wider. Eventually we have to unite behind whoever the D candidate is. We should all try to remember that.

OS


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/the-great-democratic-trade-war-labor-targets-house-democrats

06/10/15 10:23 AM—UPDATED 06/10/15 10:25 AM

By Chuck Todd and Mark Murray

And it shines the spotlight on Hillary’s non-position on trade: An AFL-CIO spokesman tells First Read that it cares about the policy, not politics. “This isn’t about politics; it’s about policy that’s bad for working people,” the AFL’s Josh Goldstein said. “All we’re looking at now is a choice, a very clear choice – standing with working people or standing with corporate entitlements.” For all the attention that the GOP’s own ideological civil war (Establishment vs. Tea Party) received over the last four years, this Dem-vs.-Dem infighting is noteworthy. (Remember when Sen. Sherrod Brown said President Obama was being disrespectful to Sen. Elizabeth Warren by referring to her by her first name?) And, of course, it’s all a reminder that Hillary Clinton still hasn’t taken a side on the free-trade agreement. Is she seeing these kinds of TV ads the AFL-CIO is airing against vulnerable Dem members? If fast track passes the House, she will have to make up her mind. Oh, and don’t miss the piece by NBC’s Alex Moe on Nancy Pelosi’s own balancing act on trade.

[marmar]

1. k/r

[DURHAM D]

2. Gee I wonder...

The Great Democratic Trade War: Labor targets House Democrats: With the House vote on giving President Obama “fast track” authority coming either later this week or next, Democrats are once again eating their own. The AFL-CIO yesterday began airing a TV ad slamming freshman Rep. Kathleen Rice (D-NY) who now supports giving Obama this authority. “Why should we ever trust Kathleen Rice again?” the ad asks. This follows an earlier TV ad the AFL-CIO ran against Rep. Ami Bera (D-CA), one of the most vulnerable Democrats heading into 2016 given the ideological makeup in his swing district. “Congressman Ami Bera will do anything to keep his job – including shipping your job overseas.”

These Democratic members are wondering why the AFL-CIO is targeting them when they support labor on most issues, especially when they will likely face competitive general-election contests from Republicans. A Rice spokesman told Vox: “I wouldn’t want to be a labor leader and have to explain to my hardworking nurses or truck drivers or tradesmen why we’re wasting hundreds of thousands of their families’ dollars attacking a progressive Democrat who’s with them on nearly every issue but this bill. And I certainly wouldn’t want to have to explain to those workers that if their money is successful, they’ll get a staunch anti-union representative as their reward.”

Oh... and fuck Chuck.

[bvar22]

18. Organized LABOR and Working Americans SHOULD have...

...started targeting "free trading Democrats" and sending them back to the Republican Party back in 1992.... before NAFTA.

[Hoyt]

3. Clinton had been quite direct setting out goals the final TPP must meet for her support -- more jobs

here, labor and environmental protections, currency manipulation provisions, etc. Since it's not finished, that's a very reasonable position to take.

[riversedge]

5. yes, some show today showed a clip of her saying that.

[Omaha Steve]

6. The Atlantic: Clinton's approach so far has been to stay vague

The fight over the Trans-Pacific Partnership presents the former secretary of state with a difficult dilemma.

DAVID A. GRAHAM APR 23, 2015

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/04/democrats-produce-trade-discord/391224/

Snip: Martin O'Malley, who opposes the deal, is mad at Hillary Clinton, who has hedged on the TPP recently. "Americans deserve to know where leaders stand," he tweeted.

Jeb Bush, who backs the deal, is also upset at Clinton. "It is time to move forward as even recent Democratic presidents have recognized—and Sec. Clinton shouldn’t stand in the way for political gain," he wrote on Medium.

Snip: Obama's biggest hurdle in getting the trade deal approved was always his own party, as my colleague Russell Berman pointed out last week, when negotiators reached a deal to fast-track the TPP. What's changed is that the TPP has collided with the presidential race—in ways that are risky for Hillary Clinton. The problem for Clinton is that she has historically backed free-trade deals, and as secretary of state called the TPP "the gold standard in trade agreements." Yet her campaign's big push over the last week or two has been to prove her liberal bona fides. Many progressives still don't like NAFTA, a product of Bill Clinton's administration (actually, many Americans don't like NAFTA), and while Hillary Clinton still looks like a prohibitive favorite in the Democratic primary, rivals like O'Malley and Senator Bernie Sanders oppose it, as do the labor unions that are a major part of the Democratic coalition.

Clinton's approach so far has been to stay vague. "She will be watching closely to see what is being done to crack down on currency manipulation, improve labor rights, protect the environment and health, promote transparency and open new opportunities for our small businesses to export overseas," her campaign said Friday. On Tuesday in New Hampshire, the candidate herself added, “Any trade deal has to produce jobs and raise wages and increase prosperity and protect our security. We have to do our part in making sure we have the capabilities and the skills to be competitive.”

[Hoyt]

8. What she's said is not vague at all.

[Omaha Steve]

14. Is she for or against fast track?

That is all I want to know! A link would help.

[daleanime]

7. She's been quite direct....

in hoping that this issue is firmly in the rear view mirror when the election heats up.

[raindaddy]

13. Enough has been leaked that anyone who wants to lead this nation should be able to make a decision..

There's no mystery where Hillary stands when it comes to any issue that might have an effect on global corporation's/ Wall Street's never ending lust for more power and higher profits at the expense of the middle class.

[Phlem]

4. K&R!

[AtomicKitten]

9. Ed Schultz: Bernie Sanders Calls out Hillary Clinton on TPP and trade.

Great segment. Video loads at top:
http://www.msnbc.com/the-ed-show/watch/sanders-calls-out-clinton-on-tpp-453534275524

Ps: Sorry for duplicate post below. My 'puter spazzed.

[C Moon]

11. We hope your health is "permitting" for many more primaries! Great post.

[SoapBox]

12. I second what C Moon says!

Now back to the OP...

I certainly won't say I hate her...I used to like her.

But I've now seen much better.

When things get rolling here in Southern California, I'll work for Bernie...I've ordered from his store...I'll donate dollars I can and provide time/office supplies.

If she becomes the candidate...I'm not lifting a finger nor donating a dime of my very hard earned monies (her millionaire, billionaire, Corporate Personhood types can continue to fund her...she will be anything but "grassroots&quot . When it comes to voting time, our house (life long Democrats) will see what happens...what I do HATE is the thought of casting a ballot for someone I don't like!

And, in an OP in GD tonight I saw someone say that non HRC Dems need to "Get used to it" that she'll be the candidate. NEVER, will anyone tell me to "get used to it" nor to just cast my ballot because. I may now be starting to understand why people won't vote out of principle.

[Scuba]

15. Not being loudly and adamantly opposed to the TPP should be a disqualifier for a Dem candidate.

[Enthusiast]

17. +1

[99Forever]

16. I cannot and will not support ANY potential candidate that won't come out publically against...

...TPA and TPP. Period.

If they cannot do that, we do NOT share the most important of values. It is not negotiable for me.