In earlier afternoon, Greg Sargent was warning it's awful close and maybe there won't be the 20 or so Democratic votes to get it done.
"President Obama’s trade agenda is really hanging in the balance right now, as the bill giving him Fast Track authority to negotiate the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal appears balanced on the edge of a knife in the House of Representatives."
I've written of this before-this is not actually voting on any deal but just giving the President the ability-that around the world most Heads of State take for granted-to simply have the ability to negotiate trade deals with these other Heads of State.
http://diaryofarepublicanhater.blogspot.com/2015/05/why-tpp-matters-so-much-to-obama.html
We keep hearing all this talk from Elizabeth Warren and friends that this trade deal is 'a secret trade deal' but this is necessarily so in the negotiations stage-just like the Iran treaty Obama was trying to negotiate with the GOP telling Iran that it wouldn't mean anything anyway was 'secret' during the negotiating stage when the final deal is not even fully formed.
This time it's his own party that wants to cut the President off at the knees in front of the rest of the world.
Sargent sounded downright hopeful that liberals might kill the bill but later his Plum Line brother Paul Waldman announced-sounding rather disappointed-that this is likely to go through after all.
" It’s looking increasingly like Obama and House Republicans will muddle through to getting Fast Track passed in the House tomorrow. Not terribly surprising."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2015/06/11/happy-hour-roundup-623/
Well Sargent made it sound like it wasn't so predictable that it would happen but now Waldman makes it sound like its' what was expected. I get the feeling that Waldman-and Sargent- likes surprises for the sake of them being surprises.
In a sense this is a surprise if it does happen. In the 90s Clinton's Democratic friends in Congress never let him get his trade authority back; he did NAFTA under 'leftover' TA from the Reagan years.
That's why it's hard to be a Democratic President. Not only is the other party trying to neuter you at all times but often your own party throws you under the bus too.
It seems to me that this tweet by Kenny Mack today says it all:
"These Dems shitting on PBO over TPP but gonna be begging him & FLOTUS to get Black folks to the polls in 2016."
https://twitter.com/evilsax
I keep telling you-if you read my Twitter page-follow Thaddeus Stevens: party before principle. That's the only way. I had a chat with another friend on Twitter-Wild Thing-about the state of abortion rights in America: they are in tatters. The only way to really do something about this is help the Dems take back all these states that have for all intents and purposes, banned abortion-Wild Thing comes from Wisconsin and Walker is in the midst of doing just that-and of course get Hillary in 2016 and hopefully take back the Supreme Court finally.
I agree that ACA, Dodd-Frank, fuel efficiency standards, immigration reform and changing the conversation on the MW are going to be Obama's legacy. OK he didn't get IR-but did everything with in his power to do something and achieved as much as he could. Hillary will have to continue what he started in 2016.
Another important legacy will be all those federal judges he appointed. This will help.
But honestly, this is a real uphill fight. The GOP has successfully nibbled around the edges for years on this. The only way to stop this is to elect Democrats-rather than primarying Democrats that aren't liberal enough.
The problem is not that the Dems aren't liberal enough but that there aren't enough Dems.
"President Obama’s trade agenda is really hanging in the balance right now, as the bill giving him Fast Track authority to negotiate the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal appears balanced on the edge of a knife in the House of Representatives."
"The latest: Dem Rep. Sander Levin — the ranking Democrat on the powerful Ways and Means Committee, and a well-respected lawmaker on trade and labor issues — plans to vote No on a key measure related to trade, a spokesperson for Levin confirms to me. That could prove to be a serious blow."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2015/06/11/could-liberals-bring-down-obamas-big-trade-agenda/
I've written of this before-this is not actually voting on any deal but just giving the President the ability-that around the world most Heads of State take for granted-to simply have the ability to negotiate trade deals with these other Heads of State.
http://diaryofarepublicanhater.blogspot.com/2015/05/why-tpp-matters-so-much-to-obama.html
We keep hearing all this talk from Elizabeth Warren and friends that this trade deal is 'a secret trade deal' but this is necessarily so in the negotiations stage-just like the Iran treaty Obama was trying to negotiate with the GOP telling Iran that it wouldn't mean anything anyway was 'secret' during the negotiating stage when the final deal is not even fully formed.
This time it's his own party that wants to cut the President off at the knees in front of the rest of the world.
Sargent sounded downright hopeful that liberals might kill the bill but later his Plum Line brother Paul Waldman announced-sounding rather disappointed-that this is likely to go through after all.
" It’s looking increasingly like Obama and House Republicans will muddle through to getting Fast Track passed in the House tomorrow. Not terribly surprising."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2015/06/11/happy-hour-roundup-623/
Well Sargent made it sound like it wasn't so predictable that it would happen but now Waldman makes it sound like its' what was expected. I get the feeling that Waldman-and Sargent- likes surprises for the sake of them being surprises.
In a sense this is a surprise if it does happen. In the 90s Clinton's Democratic friends in Congress never let him get his trade authority back; he did NAFTA under 'leftover' TA from the Reagan years.
That's why it's hard to be a Democratic President. Not only is the other party trying to neuter you at all times but often your own party throws you under the bus too.
It seems to me that this tweet by Kenny Mack today says it all:
"These Dems shitting on PBO over TPP but gonna be begging him & FLOTUS to get Black folks to the polls in 2016."
https://twitter.com/evilsax
I keep telling you-if you read my Twitter page-follow Thaddeus Stevens: party before principle. That's the only way. I had a chat with another friend on Twitter-Wild Thing-about the state of abortion rights in America: they are in tatters. The only way to really do something about this is help the Dems take back all these states that have for all intents and purposes, banned abortion-Wild Thing comes from Wisconsin and Walker is in the midst of doing just that-and of course get Hillary in 2016 and hopefully take back the Supreme Court finally.
I agree that ACA, Dodd-Frank, fuel efficiency standards, immigration reform and changing the conversation on the MW are going to be Obama's legacy. OK he didn't get IR-but did everything with in his power to do something and achieved as much as he could. Hillary will have to continue what he started in 2016.
Another important legacy will be all those federal judges he appointed. This will help.
But honestly, this is a real uphill fight. The GOP has successfully nibbled around the edges for years on this. The only way to stop this is to elect Democrats-rather than primarying Democrats that aren't liberal enough.
The problem is not that the Dems aren't liberal enough but that there aren't enough Dems.
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