Trade Deal, Keystone Open Clinton To Flip-Flop Charges
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Martin O'Malley was blunt when he learned Hillary Rodham Clinton had announced her opposition to a Pacific Rim trade deal. "Wow, that's a reversal," he told reporters minutes after Clinton announced her shift.
The Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal is just the latest in a long line of issues that Clinton has shifted her views on in recent weeks, giving Democratic rivals like O'Malley, the former Maryland governor, and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, an opportunity to brand her as a flip-flopper on the eve of the first Democratic presidential debate.
Leading up to the Oct. 13 primetime encounter in Las Vegas, Clinton has announced her opposition to the Keystone XL pipeline, a project she said she was "inclined" to support back in 2010 as President Barack Obama's secretary of state. She touted her support for gay marriage during a weekend appearance before the Human Rights Campaign - yet she opposed same-sex marriage for more than two decades in public life.
And her opposition to the Asian trade deal, which was finalized last week, came nearly three years after she traveled to Australia as secretary of state and lauded the proposed pact as the "gold standard" of trade deals. Video clips of Clinton talking about the trade deal are stored on YouTube, giving her opponents made-for-TV footage that could be used in television ads to highlight her shifting positions.
"Whether it is the Keystone pipeline, whether it is TPP, these are issues that I have had a very strong opinion on from Day One," Sanders told reporters. "I am delighted that Secretary Clinton is on board in opposition to the TPP. To be very frank with you, it would have been more helpful to have her on board a few months ago."
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