Bernstein: Hillary Opposed NAFTA, "closer to John Edwards than you would think"

[El Pinko]

VIDEO:

http://www.crooksandliars.com/Media/Download/25868/2/cnn-bernstein-hillary-nafta-013008.mov


Bernstein: Hillary Clinton’s economics, the ones she preached to her husband in the White House are much closer to John Edwards than you would think. She argued with Bill Clinton when she was First Lady, her husband, she said ‘Bill, you are doing Republican economics when you are doing NAFTA.’ She was against NAFTA. And if she would somehow come out and tell the real story of what she fought for in the White House and failed in a big argument with her husband she would end up moving much closer to those Edwards followers.



EDIT:

There's some doubt being cast upon whether or not Hillary really opposed NAFTA - I don't know, and am not advocating for her. I saw this on C&L, found it interesting and posted it. Read the comments and links and judge for yourself.

[Why Syzygy]

1. That's good news, but ..

if he believes she is such a great stateswoman, why didn't he listen to her then?
If he wants us to follow her now, why didn't he take her advice?
Contradiction there somewhere.

[Tom Rinaldo]

3. Bill Clinton was a better statesmen by far than the man who he followed or

the man who followed him. Unlike George W. Bush, Bill Clinton is still highly regarded around the world.

However Hillary will be a better stateswoman, and a better President, than any of them. That ultimately is the point.

[Barack_America]

5. You still didn't answer his question...

...of why Bill didn't consider Hillary's advice, if he considered her part of his administration.

[Tom Rinaldo]

12. Every President gets lots of advice but only one person gets to decide

Hillary didn't control Bill and he won't controll her. Have you ever been married or in a long term relationship? Not every decision reflects an equal buy in to that decision and one's partner does not always win the day in every argument.

[Why Syzygy]

13. NAFTA

is a pretty big deal. Monumental actually. The question really is, with that huge a difference of opinion, and that's just one example, why should I believe his endorsement of her now?

Additionally, good point about marriages, but do you know what policies she favors NOW with which he disagrees? What agenda is he going to be pushing from his position if they reside in the WH?
What will they be disagreeing about in a future administration?
What policies will she have to defend to her President husband if she if President?

If someone wants to use the OP argument to advance Hillary's position, the flip side has to be entered into the equation as well.

[Tom Rinaldo]

20. I honestly don't expect, during a primary contest for the Democratic nomination

for us to be privy to where Hillary and Bill disagree on issues except in some strategic instances where sharing that would be more helpful to her campaign than not. Now is the time when ranks get closed, not pryed apart. So I would go with the positions that Hillary articulates as the best guide. Even if Bill disagrees in part, she will have the upper political hand in their relationship once she is the elected President of the United States.

But I agree with what the New York Post said in choosing NOT to endorse Hillary over Barack. The post called Hillary more ideologically left than her husband, and more disciplined. In my eyes Bill was a big improvement over either Bush but still left a lot to be desired. I have greater hopes for Hillary when she is the final decision maker, not Bill. And even "The Nation" commented that Obama's campaign has been slightly to the Right of Hillary's. Obama earned some well earned credibility with progressives for opposing the Iraq war early, but the rest of his platform and his performance in Congress has not distinguished him from Clinton on the whole.

[robbedvoter]

2. I guess that's why the NY Post and The nation agree that Obama is to the right of her

Ny Post:
Finally, Sen. Clinton stands philosophically far to the left of her
husband, and is much more disciplined in pursuit of her agenda.

[El Pinko]

4. Just for the record, I'm not posting this as a Clinton supporter.

I had posted it as a topic of interest in GD, and a Clinton supporter asked me to post it here.

I'm leaning Obama, but am not anti-Clinton at all. I don't come to GDP often because I hate seeing Clintonites and Obamites tearing each other to shreds over nothing.

[robbedvoter]

8. Thank you. I myself am not the kind of supporter who would try to justify

crappy things. I am more of a voter - swayed by some things - I voted for Tasini in the Senate primaries in 2006.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x4231971

[killbotfactory]

6. whatever

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBypp2hqxaQ

[AtomicKitten]

7. the truth shall set us free!

thanks for posting

[El Pinko]

11. Thank you for posting that.

Methinks the lady has some splaining to do...

[Why Syzygy]

15. Thanks

:thumbsup:

I would really like to believe in the Hillary her supporters think she is.
But she isn't.

*I'm a progressive Independent who finds that the Democratic Party represents my ideals FAR better than the GOP. In 1992, I wanted to vote for Ross Perot. He's from my home state. I leaned conservative back then, and was opposed to NAFTA. I couldn't understand why anyone could favor it. Still don't. However, I could not BEAR the thought of another Bush administration, so I voted for Bill. I didn't regret it. I do regret NAFTA and a few others things. In balance, of course, Bush I would have done the same and much worse. I kind of get a bad taste when someone asks me to cast my vote now to avoid a bigger disaster. I don't know why.

edit: I don't remember. Bush I did support NAFTA, didn't he?

[elixir]

22. Boy, was that a waste of five minutes. I won't get fooled again.

[MonkeyFunk]

26. How disingenuous

To claim she was laughing about NAFTA in that video.

She was laughing about a particular televised debate between Ross Perot and Al Gore, and yes, the charts WERE the butt of jokes for a long time back then.

[Azathoth]

9. Laying claim to everything Bill Clinton did, except the bad things, which she was of course against

Sure Hillary, sure. :eyes:

[redqueen]

10. It is the case.

Disregarding the red herring of why Bill didn't take her advice, the fact is her voting record is better than Obama's on trade & the environment (I say the environment because she had the sense not to vote for the Energy Policy Act of 2005 - huge giveaway to oil & nuclear energy industries, much like the medicaid prescription bill was for big pharma).

[robbedvoter]

14. True, The Nation and NY Post agree Obama is to the right of Clinton

[Why Syzygy]

18. Are we voting for labels?

Right/Left. Talk about yer red herrings.

emphasis added

Misleading Claim #7: Organized Labor

Harper's Magazine suggests that Obama's hiring of a former staffer for Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin makes him susceptible to policies that hurt organized labor. Harper's writes, " hired Karen Kornbluh, a senior aide to Robert Rubin when the latter, as head of the Treasury Department under Bill Clinton, was a chief advocate for NAFTA and other free-trade policies that decimated the nation's manufacturing sector".

Fact:

Obama has a strong pro-labor voting record. Obama voted against the Central American Free Trade Agreement and has said that NAFTA should be renegotiated. Obama has cosponsored many important bills to help workers, including: an increase in the minimum wage, and the Employee Free Choice Act. He also championed efforts in the Senate to help air traffic controllers engaged in a labor dispute with the Federal Aviation Administration

http://obama.senate.gov/press/061023-senator_obamas_6/

[NYCGirl]

16. Do all the Hillites who HATED Bernstein before LOVE him now? NT

[Quixote1818]

17. Hillary Clinton: "I think NAFTA was, in principle, a good idea." Feb. 1, 2007

http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/1/23/152921/892

[in_cog_ni_to]

21. Silly you! You forgot to post the ENTIRE quote! Tsk, tsk, tsk....

TIME: Do you think NAFTA was the right thing to do?

CLINTON: I think NAFTA was, in principle, a good idea to try to create a better trading market between Canada and the United States and Mexico. But I think the terms that it contained, and how it was negotiated under the Bush Administration and the failure to have any tough enforcement mechanism, like pollution on our border with Mexico, for example—

TIME: That was your husband's Adminstration, wasn't it? Because I recall a lot of debate about it not having labor standards and environmental standards.

CLINTON: But it was inherited. NAFTA was inherited by the Clinton Administration. I believe in the general principles it represented, but what we have learned is that we have to drive a tougher bargain. Our market is the market that everybody wants to be in. We should quit giving it away so willy-nilly. I believe we need tougher enforcement of the trade agreements we already have. You look at the trade enforcement record between the Clinton Administration and the Bush Administration, the Clinton Administration brought more trade enforcement actions in one year than the Bush Administration brought in six years.

For me, trade is who we are. We're traders. We want to be involved in the global economy, but not be played for suckers.

As we look at trade today, I don't think we can look at trade separate and apart from how we fix health care. I don't think we can look at it separate and apart from how we incentivize and pay for education, so we keep trying to improve the skills of our workforce. And I think that the budget deficit has mortgaged our future and the holders of the mortgages are governments like the government of China, so then it makes it even more difficult for us to get tough when it comes to trade. So we've kind of walked into this vicious cycle and we need to break it. <snip>

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1584649,00.html

[elixir]

23. I would agree, in principle it was a good idea. The execution and planning fell apart.

[sniffa]

19. Wait, wait, wait

You mean the NAFTA she claimed, to not really know anything about at the time? that she thought it was just graphs and charts?

How odd.

[Levgreee]

24. Hillary sure does flip flop a lot.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJ0swdRvYgw

"NAFTA was a mistake to the extent that it did not deliver on what we hoped it would..."

Later quote

"I think on balance, NAFTA has been good for New York, and America"


Sounds like she was for it pretty long after Bill was out of the White house.

[Little Star]

25. She has also recently said that it needs to be

revamped to close all the loop holes Corporations have used to off shore our jobs!!