Chamber of Commerce Lobbyist Tom Donohue: Clinton Will Support TPP After Election

[cali]

File under no shit Sherlock. Depending on circumstances and who the Republican Nominee is, she may very well champion it again, before the election. Bernie will not support a trade deal written to benefit corporations over the public welfare, and drafted with major input from corporations and their representatives.





In an interview from Davos with Bloomberg TV on January 20, Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue, a top lobbyist for the pro-corporate-power Trans-Pacific Partnership [TPP] agreement, assured viewers that if Hillary Clinton wins the Presidential election, Clinton will support the TPP, even though she opposes it

The Chamber president said he expected Hillary Clinton would ultimately support the TPP if she becomes the Democratic nominee for president and is elected. He argued that she has publicly opposed the deal chiefly because her main challenger, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), has also done so. "If she were to get nominated, if she were to be elected, I have a hunch that what runs in the family is you get a little practical if you ever get the job," he said.

Donohue also said TPP will not be voted on prior to the election because Senate Republicans do not want to do anything that could jeopardize Republican Senators in close races. But he said he believed there was a 75 percent chance that TPP would get done in the lame-duck session after the election.

In 2012, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney was pilloried when a senior campaign adviser suggested that Romney would "hit a reset button" after the primary was over. "It's almost like an Etch A Sketch. You can kind of shake it up, and we start all over again."

But now TPP lobbyist Tom Donohue is saying there's going to be an "Etch a Sketch" on the TPP after the general election in November.


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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-naiman/chamber-of-commerce-lobby_b_9104096.html?utm_hp_ref=politics

[GoneFishin]

1. I was going to say "Well Duh!". But "no shit Sherlock" works good too. nt

[Vinca]

2. The new "progressive" Hillary will be a campaign memory.

[Jarqui]

3. "I have a hunch that what runs in the family is you get a little practical if you ever get the job"

Anyone else find that insulting or demeaning.

She and her husband got "practical" with NAFTA.

NAFTA was "practical" for the get rich quick corporate execs. But not so "practical" for the millions who lost their jobs.

I think Clinton's handling of NAFTA was one of the worst things ever done to the US economy. You might cite the financial collapse of 2008 as being worse. That was awful and Clinton's finger prints were on some of the causes. But the economy gradually recovered from that particular set of problems though it was a shell of what it once was due to NAFTA.

Countries create wealth by adding value and digging stuff out of the ground and selling more of it to others than it buys. You give away manufacturing equipment, knowhow and jobs to countries like Clinton effectively did with NAFTA and those things don't come back so easily. Adding value to create wealth gets harder for a country when you do that. You let the air out of the net worth of the country and it's ability to sustain it. It is a key reason for the income inequality because many middle class jobs left and didn't return ... which had US economic consequences.

There were forces at play that brought NAFTA about so I won't completely blame it on Clinton. But there was a much better way to handle it. The American middle class workers were the "practical" sacrificial lambs who paid the price. No matter what he spins, that will eventually be widely seen as part of Bill's epitaph as president.

Bill is considerably sharper than Hillary - even on trade where in my opinion, he really messed up. Hillary shouldn't be near trade agreements. She's never deeply demonstrated she has a rudder or a clue in that area. It all comes off as showmanship BS without much substance.

I wouldn't counter that trade is a strong suit for Bernie. But Bernie has common sense and judgement. He'd be cautious and sensible.

[m-lekktor]

4. Of course she will! I have no doubt about it. nt

[CharlotteVale]

5. Her lies about being against it are laughable.

[Skwmom]

6. Bernie is the ONLY candidate with a history to support his opposition to the TPP.

Rhetoric is not good enough on something so critical.

[farleftlib]

7. I hope we never have to find out

TPP and TISA are being kept under wraps for now because we will become complete serfs to corporation interests. These deals have little or nothing to do with trade and everything to do with allowing corporations to sue governments (at tribunals, not in courtrooms) for anything that would reduce profits.

[BillZBubb]

8. I doubt if even Hillary's strongest supporters doubt this.

They probably don't have any problem with it either.

President Obama supports TPP, so to many Democrats it isn't a big deal.

[DirkGently]

9. Very Interesting. n/t