On The TPP Trade Deal, Obama Has The Support Of Republican Presidential Candidates

Obama had the support of the GOP presidential field. "The trade debate presents a delicatebalance for Republican candidates who have built their campaigns on assailing the Obama administration on everything from health care to foreign policy. Suddenly, they have found themselves pressured to support Obama out of commitment to free trade and at the behest of businesses key to their early success in 2016. The tightrope was perhaps most clearly exhibited Tuesday by Sen. Rand Paul. ... Paul voted to advance the bill, even after he told his leadership that he was a 'no'... The U.S. Chamber of Commerce had made courting Paul's support a key goal as it lobbied members to get behind the legislation." Lauren Fox in National Journal.

CORN: This vote wasn't really about Obama and Warren, though. "Obama's problems are not just with Warren, the Massachusetts populist and progressive darling. Every member of his own party but one voted to stymie a vote on the fast-track bill Obama has been pushing. ... It turns out that Warren was not holding a marginal position, as the White House had contended. The president was." Mother Jones.

MILBANK: The balance of power among Democrats has shifted. "A seemingly unstoppable coalition of the powerful assembled to advance the Trans Pacific Partnership trade bill: A Democratic president aligned with the Republican majority in both chambers of Congress and the full lobbying might of Corporate America. But on Tuesday afternoon, the Senate Democratic minority delivered a surprise defeat to President Obama... However the trade debate is resolved, Tuesday’s defeat in the Senate is likely to be a turning point, because it shows that the populists are now firmly in control of the Democratic Party. Anger over growing inequality has reached critical mass, and a backlash has begun against a political system that has, over the last three decades, allowed 100 percent of all income growth to go to the wealthiest 10 percent." The Washington Post.

GALSTON: Hillary Rodham Clinton will have to choose a side. "Combined with evidence of stagnant social mobility, the failure of economic growth to yield solid gains for most working Americans has spawned a quest for explanations. Democrats on the left focus on the conservative political mobilization of recent decades; policies that undermine labor unions; failed financial regulations; corporate self-dealing; and one-sided trade treaties that disregard the interests of ordinary Americans. Center-left Democrats emphasize technological change and globalization (as distinct from treaties); a mediocre educational system; a slowdown in innovation; and the failure of the public and private sectors to invest adequately in the future. ... It is on this contested terrain that Mrs. Clinton must carve out not just specific economic policies, but an economic framework and narrative as well." The Wall Street Journal.