Trade Defeat A Failure Of Presidential Leadership
Leadership: House Democrats handed President Obama a stinging defeat on Trade Promotion Authority Friday, halting the necessary presidential authority to negotiate new treaties. Obama has no one to blame but himself.
President Obama has had at least three years to get his ducks in line in Congress to ensure passage of Trade Promotion Authority, commonly known as fast track, a routine authority to ensure that a president has the capacity to complete proposed trade deals, such as the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership, which is wrapping up after years of talks.
Instead, his TPA bill went down in flames with Friday's House vote, mostly because his fellow Democrats' refused to support it. That speaks to a failure in presidential leadership on free trade rare in U.S. history.
Yes, Obama's fellow Democrats, voting en masse against him — and not the scattered Republican opponents — did him in. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, ebullient in victory, now becomes the face of the Democratic Party once again because Obama never forged the necessary ties to his own party to ensure passage.
It was a remarkable vote because Democrats were actually willing to employ scorched earth tactics on something they valued to ensure that Obama didn't get TPA.
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