Warren’s Case for Hillary Based on a Flip-Flop

Firebrand liberal Sen. Elizabeth Warren on Saturday told a crowd at Ohio State University that the proposed trade deal negotiated by President Obama would “leave workers eating dirt.” She then proceeded, ironically, to urge voters to support a candidate who once called that agreement the “gold standard” in trade pacts.

“Let me be clear” about where she and Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton stand on the Trans-Pacific Partnership, Warren (D-Mass.) said.

“Republicans support a trade deal and are trying to push it through Congress that will leave workers eating dirt.”

Observers might be forgiven if they thought it was less than clear. As secretary of state, Clinton repeatedly praised the 12-nation pact.

“This TPP sets the gold standard in trade agreements to open free, transparent, fair trade, the kind of environment that has the rule of law and a level playing field,” she said during a trip to Australia in 2012.

Clinton flip-flopped amid intense criticism from primary opponent Bernie Sanders, explaining her reversal as a rejection of the details that were unknown at the time of her earlier praise.

Republican Donald Trump, whom Warren repeatedly referred to as “a man that can never be president,” has been a staunch opponent of the TPP since its inception. Hostility to poorly negotiated free trade deals has been a hallmark of Trump’s worldview dating back decades.

And no one in Washington, of course, is a bigger proponent of the deal than the president of her own party.

But you’d never realize that from Warren’s rhetoric in Columbus on Saturday.

“Republicans support a trade deal and are trying to push it through Congress that will leave workers eating dirt,” she said.

Warren specifically included Ohio’s Republican senator, Rob Portman, in that description.

[lz_related_box id=”208045″]

“We need more moderate Republicans in Congress,” she said. “But he isn’t one of them.”

Warren urged Ohioans to vote for Portman’s Democratic opponent, former Gov. Ted Strickland, in order to stop the TPP. She alluded to Portman’s vote in favor of giving Obama authority to negotiate the deal without allowing Congress to amend it.

“When it was time to grease the skids to get the TPP teed up and ready to go, Rob Portman was there with a strong ‘yes’ vote,” she said.

Warren ignored that fact the Portman in February came out against the final text on grounds that it lacks enforceable provisions to prevent other countries from gaining an unfair advantage by manipulating their currencies. “I cannot support the TPP in its current form because it doesn’t provide that level playing field,” he said in a statement at the time.

Warren also glossed over the fact both Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan have announced their opposition to the deal in its current form.

Warren evidentially gives Clinton the benefit of the doubt on her change of hear but does not afford the same courtesy to Portman, or other Republicans.