In the wake of what the White House characterizes as a “procedural” defeat, it’s worth examining why Congress has seemingly rejected TPP-or at least, structured it so that the final bill will not be adopted into law. Alan Tonelson, of the Economic Strategy Institute, has an incisive analysis of this setback for TPP supporters on his blog, which I would highly recommend. While acknowledging the importance of next year’s presidential and congressional elections to Friday’s votes, he also describes the fundamental intellectual and political failures of fast track’s most vehement advocates.Â
From the condescending, and not altogether accurate, tone of the nation’s leading editorial pages, to the political tone deafness of a President whose self-regard knows no limits, to the incandescent stupidity of the Republican leadership of the House of Representatives, this vote seemed to capsize upon a nearly perfect storm of utterly predictable factors. Which is something we should all be grateful for, in retrospect.
Recent Comments