On April 18, 2015, Evan Halper writes in the Los Angeles Times:
Large numbers of Democrats key to a Hillary Rodham Clinton victory in the 2016 presidential election will take to the streets this weekend to protest a sweeping Pacific free-trade pact that has newfound momentum in Congress — but don’t look for the candidate to be marching with them.
Less than a week after Clinton launched her candidacy, her effort to run a campaign with populist appeal is hitting an awkward patch. The bipartisan deal on Capitol Hill that would give President Obama authority to cement a long-delayed Trans-Pacific Partnership puts the spotlight on an uncomfortable issue for the candidate.
Clinton’s record of promoting the trade pact is a source of bitterness on the left. The congressional support for the deal is stirring up long-held resentment among labor leaders over President Clinton’s signing of the landmark North American Free Trade Agreement, which Hillary Clinton supported at the time.
The labor unions and environmental groups opposed to the Pacific deal do not take the issue lightly. The AFL-CIO has suspended all giving to federal candidates to focus its political activity on stopping it.
“The politics around trade has always been tough, particularly in the Democratic Party, because people have memories of outsourcing and job loss,” Obama said Friday when asked by a reporter about the deal and whether he needed Clinton’s support to complete it.
Obama offered a lengthy and detailed response, but he did not answer the part of the question about Clinton.
For her part, Clinton is treading cautiously.
