When hedging just isn't enough.

Dear Friends,

Hillary Clinton has been very busy during the first few days of her formal campaign to become President.  As I wrote here, much of what she has said has been very encouraging to me as a liberal.  Now she has made a move that gives me more hope.  She hired Gary Gensler as the chief financial officer for her campaign.

Mr. Gensler is a former chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and a former Goldman Sachs banker.  While that sounds like the typical revolving door story between the government and Wall Street.  Mr. Gensler is seen by many as a tough regulator who frequently clashed with Tim Geitner and Larry Summers (two terrible former members of the Obama administration).  The fact that he is in the good graces of Hillary Clinton is a very good sign.  Here is one conclusion from an article on Vox (here):

This is, for Wall Street skeptics, a huge deal: Gensler is the kind of regulator a President Elizabeth Warren would be expected to pick, not a President Clinton. But if Clinton is going to pick the kinds of regulators Warren was going to pick, then the difference between them isn't as large as many thought.

Unfortunately, Secretary Clinton's position on the Trans-Pacific Partnership is one of hedging.  When Secretary Clinton was First Lady, she wholeheartedly supported NAFTA.  When she ran for President in 2008 both she and then Senator Barack Obama were anti-trade agreement.  Once Senator Obama became President Obama and Senator Clinton became Secretary of State Clinton, they both changed their tunes and became strong advocates for the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Her support for the TPP is now posing some problems for her as she seeks to woo liberal voters.

The International Business Times has a good article addressing Secretary Clinton's dilemma and current hedging on the TPP (here).   The article quotes an aide to Secretary Clinton as saying:

She will be watching closely to see what is being done to crack down on currency manipulation, improve labor rights, protect the environment and health, promote transparency and open new opportunities for our small businesses to export overseas.

The article goes on to quote an opponent of the TPP who voices the exact concern that I have:

“We’re glad that Secretary Clinton is voicing concerns about the Trans-Pacific Partnership,” said Murshed Zaheed, deputy political director at Credo. “But to stop secret trade deals like the TPP,  Secretary Clinton must speak out forcefully against Fast Track Trade Promotion Authority now while the debate is playing out in Congress.”

This case is clearly one where hedging is not enough.  Hillary Clinton must come out strongly against the Trans-Pacific Partnership and fast track for it.  Senator Bernie Sanders has urged Secretary Clinton to do so.  We should all do the same.  You can email her at website@hillaryclinton.com.

Thanks for reading and please comment,
The Unabashed Liberal