Democratic Delegates Should Help Save Obama’s Legacy By Blocking The TPP
Mark Weisbrot
Huffington Post

There is also a lot of reporting that emphasizes how Democratic delegates, including members of Congress, don’t want to deny President Obama something that is important to his legacy. This is also something of an exaggeration. Most importantly, what kind of legacy is the TPP? Is Bill Clinton proud today of having rammed NAFTA through Congress, with a majority of Democratic Representatives voting against it? If he was, Hillary would be campaigning on it instead of running away from both that agreement and the TPP. And this latest agreement is pretty much guaranteed to be worse than NAFTA, given the number of countries and the rapid multiplication of lawsuits in recent years, by corporations seeking damages from governments under these agreements. If it passes, it will look much worse in the future than it does now, like George W. Bush’s legacy of the Iraq War. Better for those delegates who care about Obama’s legacy to protect it by blocking this agreement.

Finally, an interesting development this week: Senator Elizabeth Warren, a potential running mate for Hillary, released a powerful 5-minute video urging people to stop the TPP. The timing of this video, just before the current platform fight, is not coincidental. It is reminiscent of her famous New York Times op-ed just before the Iowa primary vote, which did not endorse Bernie, but was widely seen in political circles as boosting him with convincing arguments about the power of the chief executive to get things done in the face of an opposition Congress. Warren knows that the TPP and the issues it raises are going to be an important political battleground long after this presidential election, and she wants to be on the right side of history. Because she just might have a shot at being the next president after the one that is elected in November.