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Friday, June 12, 2015

Maybe we should deal with big labor and the left on TPP

I never thought that I would be siding with Nancy Pelosi against John Boehner and Paul Ryan but today is the day. Give Pelosi credit. She stuck to her principles and now Obama looks like a whipped and weakened fool. The fight is not over yet due to a motion to reconsider filed by Speaker Boehner. This is beginning to look like a Beltway versus the nation confrontation. The Washington Post reports that 27 big tech companies including AT&T, IBM, Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, eBay, Cisco, Intel and Xerox sent a missive to all members of Congress urging support of the trade agreement. So add Silicon Valley to the list which includes the Chamber of Commerce, Business Roundtable, and the American Farm Bureau and ask yourself why everyone except the public knows the contents of the agreement. This is begriming to look like TARP when the Washington insiders voted against the wishes of a vast majority of the American people and many of them are spending more time with their families now. Her vote for TARP was the issue Kay Hagan used successfully against Elizabeth Dole in the 2008 North Carolina election. Kiss one Senate seat goodbye. Congresswoman Tammy Duckworth will hammer Mark Kirk to smithereens over his vote.
This will be a campaign issue and Senators Cruz and Graham, both of whom voted for the measure in the Senate, may have done their respective campaigns irreparable harm. Hillary may have been too clever with her refusal to take a stand on either side. Her insurmountable lead is gone. Even Democratic leaning PPP found her trailing John Kasich by 7 points in Ohio and 3 points behind Rand Paul. Today was the unofficial kick off of the 2016 election.
As it looks TPP, while on life support, is not dead but its defeat could be assured if the conservatives opposing the measure could strike a non aggression pack with the left and big labor. It would take someone with plenty of clout to put this together so it probably never will happen but suppose the right agreed with the left to cross over and vote against any congressman who voted for TPP in the primary. The congressman would not have the support of his base and the smattering of cross over votes would make him vulnerable to an opponent who opposed TPP. Neither party is giving up a seat but each party gets the advantage of running against a non incumbent. Hey, politics makes for strange bed fellows and that was true even before Caitlyn Jenner.

Update: Maybe the blow back is just beginning.

2 comments:

  1. I'm pretty outraged about this. I've heard a number of Fox Business folks say it was bad that it didn't pass but I keep coming up with this conclusion: if it's so great, why so secret? Do we REALLY believe Obama has the country's best interests at heart? No. No. NO.

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  2. Yes, and if we don't trust congress now what makes them think we will trust them when the ratification vote comes up.

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