C'mon, seriously, has it gotten to the point of such desperation to pass middle-class crushing, poverty-enhancing trade deals that drive inequality that the White House treats its allies, members of Congress and activists as if they are idiots? That's a rhetorical question.
This is a head-slapping, WTF moment:
Michael B. Froman, the president’s trade representative, tried to reassure Democrats on Tuesday that the administration would be sensitive to their concerns about workplace and environmental standards in putting together the new trade pact, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP. He noted that as a candidate, Mr. Obama promised to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement, known as Nafta.
“And that’s exactly what we’re doing in TPP, upgrading our trading relationships not only with Mexico and Canada but with nine other countries as well,” Mr. Froman said in a speech at the Center for American Progress, a liberal research group in Washington.
That assertion drew scorn from critics. “I don’t think that expanding on the Nafta model and extending it to nine more nations was what the unions, environmental groups or Democratic Party activists had in mind when Obama said he would renegotiate Nafta,” said Lori Wallach, a trade expert at Public Citizen, a liberal advocacy group.[emphasis added]
Uh, well, first, in case Mr. Forman and the White House cannot add, the candidate Obama who made that promise existed roughly six years ago. I think that campaign ended already, no? In the period since, the president has done nothing, zilch, nada to renegotiate NAFTA.
The opposite: he continues to press for trade deals that as Lori Wallach points out above are precisely in the NAFTA-mold, including the TPP whose passage he so badly wants that he is willing to sacrifice the environment, which is precisely NAFTA-like.
And the Orwellian speak of Froman promising "upgrading our trading relationships" via the TPP is the exact opposite of renegotiating NAFTA.
It's locking in that very model.
Stop lying.
Stop treating people--in theory, your own base, your supporters, the middle class, workers--like idiots.
[A quick observation. There were a few people who wondered whether this criticism of the White House would engender "flame wars" from people who would find this as contrary to the philosophy of the site being pro-Democratic. IMHO, it's the Administration, and the president, who are the minority--Remember, a group of 151 Democrats in Congress has said it opposes “fast track” authority, along with 550 Democratic-based organizations--"fast track" being a critical part of the push for so-called "Free trade". And the context of the story I've cited the Froman stupidity from is that the president is swimming against the sentiment among a large portion of Democrats in Congress.]