Hillary Clinton
weighed in on the trade debate Sunday in Iowa, siding with House Democrats who derailed the bill's march through Congress last week.
Clinton called on Obama to listen to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and the Democratic rank and file in Congress who want the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement to include better protections for American workers. If he doesn't, she said, "there should be no deal."
"In order to get a deal that meets these high standards, the president should listen to and work with his allies in Congress, starting with Nancy Pelosi, who had expressed their concerns about the impact that a weak agreement would have on our workers, to make sure we get the best, strongest deal possible," Clinton said. "And if we don't get it, there should be no deal." […]
Clinton, who as Obama's first-term secretary of state was involved in trade negotiations, set out three broad parameters for the TPP. She said any agreement must include protections for U.S. workers, help raise wages and be in the country's national security interests.
But she signaled which way she leaned by twice referencing Pelosi, who supported the rebellion, and calling on him to work with House Democrats to achieve a better deal.
Brendan Buck, spokesman for Rep. Paul Ryan's House Ways and Means Committee,
criticized Clinton for being "disingenuous" about the bill's path, because Pelosi and House Democrats weren't voting against the trade deal itself, but trade promotion authority. Because certainly the voters in Iowa wanted to have Clinton educate them on the congressional procedure of how a trade agreement is made rather than what she thinks about the substance of the agreement. That's because Republicans can't really argue substance, not when they are in the position of agreeing with Obama on the TPP. They sure don't want to be in the position of defending him on substance on this, or anything.