According to The Guardian, Hillary Clinton has broken with Obama and come out against the Transpacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) signed in Atlanta earlier this week.
I believe Clinton’s reversal is a clear reaction to Bernie Sanders’s vigorous populist campaign for the Democratic candidacy. Despite his longstanding support for Israel and US militarism, Sanders is an outspoken opponent of TPPA.
Clinton can’t help but be wary of the legions of young people attracted to his campaign, his impressive polling in key primary states* nor his impressive impressive fundraising prowess. According to CNN as of 9/3015, Clinton had raised only slightly more money than Sanders.
The Guardian article refers to a taped interview with PBS News Hour, in which Clinton states, “As of today (10/7/15), I am not in favor of what I have learned about it”.
She adds, “I don’t have the text, we don’t yet have all the details, I don’t believe it’s going to meet the high bar I have set.”
Clinton specifically criticizes the TPPA’s failure to address currency manipulation. She also feels, under TPPA, that “pharmaceutical companies may have gotten more benefits and patients and consumers got fewer”.
This is a clear reversal for Clinton. Previously a staunch supporter of TPPA, she played a leading role in its negotiation while serving as secretary of state.
According to the Guardian article, Democratic presidential hopeful Martin O’Malley also opposes the TPPA, as do Republican front-runner Donald Trump and Rick Santorum.
For more on Clinton’s reversal on TPPA, here’s the original article.
Clinton’s sudden reversal and Trump’s strong opposition to TPPA suggest the secret so-called trade agreement (it’s really an agreement to suppress sovereign democratic rights in favor of multinational corporations) is in for a rocky ride when it goes to Congress for approval the first week in January.
All members of House and one-third of the Senate are up for re-election in 2016. Democratic candidates will be under pressure to distance themselves from Obama’s unpopular presidency while the Republicans in Congress will be keen to distance themselves from mainstream Republicans Tea Party voters are so angry with.
For more information why TPPA is such a bad deal for the ordinary citizens in all 12 countries that are signing it, see Wikileaks Leaks TPPA Draft
* New Hampshire, one of the first primary states, is the only state in which Sanders out polls Clinton ( 46% to 30%) . Nevertheless polling in Iowa and other key primary states show he’s rapidly eating into her lead.
The Most Revolutionary Act 
Reblogged this on Nevada State Personnel Watch.
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I think dear Hillary is Toast, the Dem. will be going with Dear Joe a shill for corporate lawyers of Delaware.
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Perhaps. Biden sure doesn’t seem to be doing that well in the polls.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/08/upshot/joe-biden-no-money-weak-polls-but-still-clintons-toughest-rival.html?_r=0 looks looks like Clinton all right
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Reblogged this on Lost Dudeist Astrology.
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Who really elects the President?:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/steveschaefer/2015/09/21/hillary-clinton-biotech-stocks-election/
Wall Street like Vegas is a place where betting odds are made every day. The media is behind Clinton, and the response of Big Pharma stock prices to her tweet indicates that Wall Street believes she has the next Presidency.
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My mother made her living from the stock market. She always said drug stocks were a really poor investment because they were too volatile. Any stock whose share price depends on bribing judges and public officials seems pretty risky to me.
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This may be true, but both the DOW and S&P Pharmaceutical Indices have substantially outperformed the broader market in recent years. Part of this is because of selective regulation (driving up drug prices in some cases), and dubious practices like allowing for “patents on generics”. However, I do not think that the market would have reacted like it did from a tweet by any other name in contention for the upcoming Presidential election- not Trump, Sanders, or even Biden (if he decides to run). The media machine, FOX being a notable exception, will work for Clinton, and there is no mechanism currently to have truly equal media message time for candidates. Except for the debates allowing for time parity, Clinton will have an enormous media advantage in the Democratic Primary through the general election. The time for publicly financed elections with equal airtime for potential candidates is long overdue in the U.S. The American public is sold elected officially in the same way it is sold fast food or automobiles (with the exception that McDonald’s doesn’t get a largess of free media time to promote its brand).
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“I don’t have the text, we don’t yet have all the details, I don’t believe it’s going to meet the high bar I have set.”
“High bar?” What “high bar”? Being married to a known womanizer/repeat rapist and remaining with him while using him as a political tool is an example of setting a “high bar”? What a low life, just like hubby!
Wasn’t this the lame excuse we heard from congress from the outset of this “treaty” debate: “We don’t know what’s in it yet!”?
How I despise this every four year farce, only now, this farce never ends: the next cycle will begin right after the 2017 inauguration.
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I see a key opportunity for grassroots anti-TPPA activists to use the 2016 elections strategically to lean on both Republican and Democratic congress persons to vote down the TPPA when it’s submitted for approval in January.
The fact that both Democratic and Republican frontrunners are genuinely opposed to TPPA (I only count Sanders and Trump – Clinton is merely an opportunists) facilitates this.
I also believe strong grassroots anti-TPPA opposition (both in the streets and on social media) has enabled Sanders and Trump to speak out against it.
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