Hillary’s Free Trade Fake-Out

Democrats always hate on free trade—before they enact it.

By Bill Scher

While Hillary Clinton is probably lying about her newfound opposition to President Barack Obama’s trade deal, that doesn’t tell us much about her character. She is simply doing what every Democratic presidential nominee has done on trade for the past three decades: campaign one way, govern another.

Immediately after Clinton turned against the Trans-Pacific Partnership multinational trade agreement Wednesday, opponents and pundits pinned the flip-flop badge to her pantsuit lapel. A June review of her past 45 pro-TPP statements by CNN.com was quickly re-circulated on social media. But the most cutting reaction was the more-in-sadness-than-in-anger conclusion from Vox’s Ezra Klein that Clinton is being dishonest. “It’s hard to believe that Clinton really opposes the TPP deal,” he sighed. “As someone trying to understand Clinton’s likely governing philosophy, it’s unnerving.”