Obama's statements concerning Fast Track Trade Authority made during the 2008 campaign

[brentspeak]

You can't make this stuff up.

Obama in 2008:

http://www.citizen.org/documents/ObamaTradeCampaignStatementsFINAL.pdf

Obama On Trade Negotiating Authority:
“
I will replace Fast Track with a process that includes criteria determining appropriate negotiating
partners that includes an analysis of labor and environmental standards as well as the state of civil
society in those countries. Finally, I will ensure that Congress plays a strong and informed role in our
international economic policy and in any future agreements we pursue and in our efforts to amend
existing agreements.”8

“I oppose extending or renewing the current Fast Track authority as designed, but would support a
redesigned process that provided for greater transparency, more democratic participation, and required
labor and environmental provisions in the core of agreements.”9

“I will not support extension of the existing Fast Track process that expired. I have not and would not
support renewing Trade Promotion Authority for this President. The current Fast Track process does
not mandate that agreements include binding labor and environmental protections nor does it give an
adequate role to Congress in the selection and design of agreements. I will work with Congres
sional leaders to ensure that any new TPA authority fix these basic failings and open up the process to the
American people for their participation and scrutiny.”10

Obama in 2015:

In his SOTU last week, urged Congress to grant him Fast Track authority so he can get TPP passed.

[woo me with science]

1. Lies upon lies upon lies.

Corporatists lie. It's what they do.

[woo me with science]

3. And an army of propagandists.

A great deal of our money is now being poured into lying to and manipulating us.

This is the behavior of nations that turn authoritarian and deeply corrupt. Utter contempt for and deliberate manipulation of the citizens these corrupt politicians pretend to represent.

Obama taps "cognitive infiltrator" Cass Sunstein for Committee to create "trust" in NSA:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023512796

Salon: Obama confidant’s spine-chilling proposal: Cass Sunstein wants the government to "cognitively infiltrate" anti-government groups
http://www.salon.com/2010/01/15/sunstein_2/

The US government's online campaigns of disinformation, manipulation, and smear.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024560097

Snowden: ‘Training Guide’ for GCHQ, NSA Agents Infiltrating and Disrupting Alternative Media Online
http://21stcenturywire.com/2014/02/25/snowden-training-guide-for-gchq-nsa-agents-infiltrating-and-disrupting-alternative-media-online/

The influx of corporate propaganda-spouting posters is blatant and unnatural.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=3189367

U.S. Repeals Propaganda Ban, Spreads Government-Made News To Americans
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023262111

The goal of the propaganda assaults across the internet is not to convince anyone of anything.*
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023359801

The government figured out sockpuppet management but not "persona management."
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023358242

The Gentleman's Guide To Forum Spies (spooks, feds, etc.)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=4159454

Seventeen techniques for truth suppression.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=4249741

Just do some Googling on astroturfing - big organizations have some sophisticated tools.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=1208351

[nationalize the fed]

9. +1 Your lists rock.

This is the behavior of nations that turn authoritarian and deeply corrupt. Utter contempt for and deliberate manipulation of the citizens these corrupt politicians pretend to represent.

And another campaign season of lies awaits. How many times? The least the US could do is shorten the process- it's beyond embarrassing now. It's humiliating.

[sabrina 1]

18. We had the 'privilege' of meeting one of Cass Sunstein's 'disrupters' today right here on DU.

He succeeded in baiting good DUers into getting posts hidden, no doubt with the help of accomplices, who for the life of those of us who have been here for years, wonder 'how on earth are THEY still here, on a supposed Liberal forum'.

Thanks for another great comment and links.

[SammyWinstonJack]

4. And Hope we don't notice the Change in direction they take after the lies they

tell to get elected. It's what they count on.

[woo me with science]

6. Insulting, lying propaganda denying reality itself.

You have to vomit at the relentless, morally bankrupt, Orwellian droning of "2+2=5." Every single vicious betrayal is treated by the propaganda machine as though it were an aberration with a good excuse, within an overall liberal or progressive legacy. Good god. As though the corporate assaults and the lies do not come predictably, relentlessly, day after day after day, in every single policy area important to the One Percent.

Yet the creepy voices keep intoning that the sky is green.

It requires a frightening moral vacancy to agree to do that type of work.

[msongs]

5. so any video of him saying he will not support the extension of fast track? nt

[woo me with science]

7. K&R

[RiverLover]

8. Even calling the TPP a "trade deal" is an untruth.

We already trade with all the TPP countries, so this isn't about trade.

Dave Johnson~

...1) President Obama, trade representative Froman, the Chamber of Commerce and others repeat the talking point, “95 percent of the world’s markets are outside the U.S..” This makes me skeptical of what they are selling because it is a “look over there at that shiny object” argument.

Saying that 95 percent of the world’s markets are outside the U.S. implies that we need TPP and other agreements because we are currently not selling goods to 95 percent of the world. This is patently false. We sell goods and services around the world already. In fact, it contradicts other corporate arguments for these agreements like, “More than 38 million American jobs already depend on trade.”

This argument deceives people about the very nature of these agreements. Most of the objections being voiced over these coming agreements are about non-trade issues. Only five of TPP’s 29 chapters deal with what people understand as “trade.” So an argument that TPP and similar agreements will “expand trade” masks what the bulk of these agreements are really about, which is getting governments off the backs of the giant corporations and protecting their profits from competition and democratic regulation.

Just one example of this is the “investor-state dispute settlements” provision, which I have called “corporate courts.” This part of “NAFTA-style” trade agreements, including TPP, allows corporations to sue governments that pass laws and regulations that interfere with profits. Similar clauses in trade agreements around the world have, for example, enabled tobacco companies to sue governments for trying to protect the health of their citizens. Under TPP these suits will be adjudicated by corporate attorneys, not democratically constituted courts....

http://www.commondreams.org/views/2015/01/29/lets-take-apart-corporate-case-fast-track-trade-authority

[woo me with science]

21. Like the "Affordable" Care Act, and the "Superlative" CPI.

And drone murders that are "legal, ethical, and wise."
And mass surveillance that defends our liberties.
And a "Recovery" that has gone completely to the top One Percent.

War is Peace.

Every assault is marketed. That's what corporate predators do.

[Ykcutnek]

10. THE TPP IS SOOOO SCARY!!!!!111

U.S. goods and services exports supported an estimated 11.3 million jobs in 2013.



Every billion dollars of goods and services exports supported nearly an estimated 5,600 jobs in 2013. Every billion dollars of goods exports supported more than 5,400 jobs in 2013. Every billion dollars of services exports supported more than 5,900 jobs in 2013.



An estimated 25 percent of all manufacturing jobs are supported by exports.



U.S. agricultural exports supported an estimated 929 thousand jobs on and off the farm in 2012 (latest data available).



Every billion dollars of U.S. agricultural exports in 2012 (latest data available) required 6,577 American jobs throughout the economy.



US jobs supported by goods exports pay 13-18 percent more than the US national average.



Exports of goods and services full year share of U.S. GDP at 13.45 percent in 2013.



https://ustr.gov/about-us/benefits-trade

[rhett o rick]

11. You supplied a bunch of statements but no conclusion. Do you support Fast Tracking

the TPP?

[djean111]

12. If you bothered to read about the parts of the TPP that have us aghast, you would realize

that this list has nothing on it that we are talking about. This list is the shiny object that is supposed to take our attention away from the corporate coup parts of the 28 or 29 part agreement. Only 5 or 6 parts are to do with trade.

[m-lekktor]

13. oh brother.

now *that's* an unbiased source.

[nikto]

15. Catastrophically UN-convincing

You wanna' add more FAIL to that?






Cakes should be properly frosted.

[Elwood P Dowd]

16. Sounds like some of the shit Carla Hills was giving to the press for talking points

during Bush Senior's NAFTA negotiating days.

[Ichingcarpenter]

28. right wing talking points on DU

well color me surprised ..Next they will defend John McCain, illegal wiretapping, and george bush.

[whathehell]

26. +10 n/t

[woo me with science]

37. +10000

[DeSwiss]

19. No one wants to buy our shit!

Especially not the goddamned GMO agricultural products.

This is total propaganda bullshit.

- Congratulations! You've just won this week's FLOCK AWARD!!!

[AdHocSolver]

20. The data you cite, even IF accurate, is irrelevant to the downward slide of the US economy.

The cause of the U.S. economy's heading toward a collapse is the TRADE DEFICIT.

The U.S. imports a majority of the everyday goods that Americans buy such as electronics, appliances, furniture, clothing, shoes, dinnerware, cooking utensils, bedding, linens, and more.

Money spent on imported goods leaves the U.S. to pay the manufacturers in those countries, and the corporations that sell these imports, instead of returning that money to the U.S. economy by paying Americans to produce those goods, keep their profits out of the U.S. by hoarding that money in foreign tax havens.

Instead of earning money buy producing goods in the U.S., the U.S. effectively borrows money from our creditors, such as China, in order to maintain its standard of living for a shrinking percentage of the population.

So the Federal Reserve keeps interest rates artificially low on depositors' accounts, while it prints money at an accelerated pace, which causes a significant inflation in the U.S. economy, which the government hides by deft manipulation of the economic statistics. (To get a handle on the actual inflation, start by checking out current prices on fresh fruits and vegetables in your local supermarket.)

[GeorgeGist]

23. So we don't need TPP.

[truebluegreen]

25. See reply #8.

[nikto]

14. So what happened to Obama, in the interim?

Secret deals? Threats? Promises of future riches?


Or maybe, he was just a U of Chicago-Milton Friedman-style neoliberal to begin with,
and he was just lying in the first place.


I wonder if we'll ever know.

[DeSwiss]

17. But he was only against Fast Track.......

...until he became for it. See?

- Damn, I mean can't a fella change his mind without some people making a federal case out of it?

K&R

[center]


[/center]

Lifting the Veil

[Scuba]

22. K&R

[pampango]

24. "The current Fast Track process does not mandate that agreements include binding labor and

environmental protections ... I will work with Congressional leaders to ensure that any new TPA authority fix these basic failings ..."

“I oppose extending or renewing the current Fast Track authority as designed, but would support a redesigned process that ... required labor and environmental provisions in the core of agreements.”

It will be interesting to see if the new TPA "fixes these basic failings" and "requires labor and environmental provisions in the core of agreements."

[stillwaiting]

27. It will be more interesting to see how any regulations are enforced.

To what extent will the U.S. be able to verify and confirm (or even WANT to verify and confirm) these regulations are being adhered to in countries where labor and environmental regulations are minimal?

And, what would the consequences be if they are found to not be following any regulations?

I'm very skeptical.

[pampango]

29. True. Enforcement would have to trump a country's 'sovereign right' to maintain low standards

in labor/human rights and the environment. Of course, this would change the current system which does not factor labor rights and the environment into trade rules.

Unless labor and environmental organizations have equal access to the enforcement mechanism (taking it out of the hands of corporate-influenced governments), I don't see how a 'high standards' agreement can survive in long run.

[Jim Lane]

30. I don't think he was lying -- and that may be an even more depressing conclusion.

My guess is that candidate Obama genuinely meant those things. Once he got to the White House, however, he confronted institutional pressures from the Washington establishment, and he had only so much energy for fighting back. "Change we can believe in" went at least partway on health care (even then with some cave-ins to Big Pharma and the like), but ran out of gas completely with the appointments of various lobbyists and Washington regulars and Clinton retreads.

Maybe I'm being too naive, but I really don't think that Obama planned it out -- "Here's how I'll sound like a progressive to win the nomination and the election, and here's how I'll then govern like a center-right Democrat." I think he was sincere in 2008.

[zipplewrath]

33. More reactionary

Not so much as planned, as it was reactionary. "Hey this crap is moving me up in the polls. Someday I'll have to figure out if I really mean this crap."

[woo me with science]

31. kick

[woo me with science]

32. Kick. Third Way politicians LIE.

That is what they do.

When the DLC connections to the Koch Bros. became well known, they just rebranded the infiltration
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=4165556

When you hear "Third Way", think INVESTMENT BANKERS
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024127432

GOP Donors and K Street Fuel Third Way’s Advice for the Democratic Party
http://www.democraticunderground.com/101680116

The Rightwing Koch Brothers fund the DLC
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x498414

Same companies behind the GOP are behind the DLC
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x1481121

Nothing is more important than preventing Hillary or another Third Way liar and warmonger in a Democrat suit from being forced down our throats as the 2016 Democratic nominee. If corporatists succeed in doing that, they will have ensured the continuation of their predatory, antidemocratic agenda no matter which candidate wins.


Corporate Republicans and the corporate Third Way are not just another flavor of politician within an essentially functioning representative government. They are building perpetual war, a police and surveillance state, and using our own laws and intelligence agencies to empower corporations over the will of the American people to dismantle democracy itself.



Hillary Clinton's leading role in drafting the TPP
http://www.democraticunderground.com/101667554

Hillary Clinton and Trade Deals: That “Giant Sucking Sound”
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1016101761

Hillary Clinton Cheerleads for Biotech and GMOs
http://www.democraticunderground.com/112772326

Dissecting Hillary Clinton's Neocon Talking Points - Atlantic Interview
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1017209519

NYTimes notices Hillary's natural affinity toward the neocons.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025205645

Hillary Clinton, the unrepentant hawk
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024876898

More from Hillary Clinton's State Department: The fascistic TISA (Trade in Services Agreement)
http://m.thenation.com/blog/180572-grassroots-labor-uprising-your-bank

How Hillary Clinton's State Department sold fracking to the world
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1251376647

Hillary Clinton Sides with NSA over Snowden Disclosures
http://www.democraticunderground.com/101695441

On the NSA, Hillary Clinton Is Either a Fool or a Liar
http://m.thenation.com/article/180564-nsa-hillary-clinton-either-fool-or-liar

Corporate Warfare: Hillary Clinton admits role in Honduran coup aftermath
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025601610#post29

The Bill and Hillary Clinton Money Machine Taps Corporate Cash
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025189257

Hillary's Privatization Plan: TISA kept more secret than the TPP
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014829628

Hillary Clinton criticizes Obama's foreign policy 'failure'; strongly defends Israel
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014867136

Some of Hillary Clinton's statements on Social Security.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024379279

Hillary Clinton's GOLDMAN SACHS PROBLEM.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025049343

Ring of Fire: Hillary Clinton - The Perfect Republican Candidate
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1017209285

How Americans Need Answers From Hillary Clinton On TPP, KXL, Wall St & More
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1017181611

Hillary Clinton Left Out By Liberal Donor Club
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025809071

Why Wall Street Loves Hillary
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1016106575

Hillary Clinton: Neocon-lite
http://www.democraticunderground.com/101684986

Interactive graphic of Hillary Clinton's connections to the Forbes top 400 (Follow link in post)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025824981#post9

[KG]

34. oh, c'mon. our good and noble leader would never put corporate intrests ahead of labor!

(snicker)

[NCTraveler]

35. On the job he is a politician. Nothing more, nothing less. nt.

[woo me with science]

36. Not every politician has to be a liar.

Not every politician has to elevate corporate interests over honest representation of human beings.

[woo me with science]

38. kick