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The sudden flip from "we're against anything Obama supports" to suddenly standing with Obama to support the TPP is highly unusual, and more than a little suspic

by pdkl95 11y ago

The sudden flip from "we're against anything Obama supports" to suddenly standing with Obama to support the TPP is highly unusual, and more than a little suspicious.

abalos 11y ago
Often I find that it's not the issues the parties disagree on that I need to worry about, it's those that get passed quickly and quietly through Congress.
- jazzyk 11y ago
  Spot on - see my post above (In this subthread).
ckozlowski 11y ago
I think the "against anything Obama supports" bit is probably a bit inaccurate if we were to drill down into the voting records in Congress. But do they have very clear and blatant interests? You bet. But it'll be a bit more complex than that I think, and I suspect you'll see voting coming down to a mix of local interests and public (including corporate) feedback. Party allegiance will be secondary to an extent, and you already see that in the article. Orrin Hatch is a republican, and he's already stating his opposition due to what are likely local interests in pharmaceuticals. Trump is blasting it, but almost undoubtedly because that's what his support base wants to hear. You'll have a lot of representatives and senators all saying that they have "deep reservations" until they get to see the final bill, and then some judgement call will be made between supporting their local industries vs the country's as a whole. And ya know, really, that's kinda how it should work.
twoodfin 11y ago
Maybe it was never the case that the Congressional GOP was against anything President Obama supported? For one thing, they helped him ratify earlier trade agreements with South Korea and Colombia. The Leahy-Smith America Invents Act act passed a GOP House (with a GOP majority voting in favor). And you can scroll back through this list to see more trivial examples: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/signed-legislation https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/signed-legislation
jazzyk 11y ago
Both Democrats and Republicans will support whatever benefits their sponsors - big business. It is wrong, but why is it still surprising to so many people?

by pdkl95 11y ago

The sudden flip from "we're against anything Obama supports" to suddenly standing with Obama to support the TPP is highly unusual, and more than a little suspicious.

abalos 11y ago

Often I find that it's not the issues the parties disagree on that I need to worry about, it's those that get passed quickly and quietly through Congress.

jazzyk 11y ago
Spot on - see my post above (In this subthread).

ckozlowski 11y ago

I think the "against anything Obama supports" bit is probably a bit inaccurate if we were to drill down into the voting records in Congress. But do they have very clear and blatant interests? You bet. But it'll be a bit more complex than that I think, and I suspect you'll see voting coming down to a mix of local interests and public (including corporate) feedback. Party allegiance will be secondary to an extent, and you already see that in the article. Orrin Hatch is a republican, and he's already stating his opposition due to what are likely local interests in pharmaceuticals. Trump is blasting it, but almost undoubtedly because that's what his support base wants to hear. You'll have a lot of representatives and senators all saying that they have "deep reservations" until they get to see the final bill, and then some judgement call will be made between supporting their local industries vs the country's as a whole. And ya know, really, that's kinda how it should work.

twoodfin 11y ago

Maybe it was never the case that the Congressional GOP was against anything President Obama supported? For one thing, they helped him ratify earlier trade agreements with South Korea and Colombia. The Leahy-Smith America Invents Act act passed a GOP House (with a GOP majority voting in favor). And you can scroll back through this list to see more trivial examples: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/signed-legislation https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/signed-legislation

jazzyk 11y ago

Both Democrats and Republicans will support whatever benefits their sponsors - big business. It is wrong, but why is it still surprising to so many people?