Thursday, April 10, 2008

Pelosi's shenanigans on the Colombia free trade agreement

The Washington Post excoriates Pelosi and the House Democrats for their plan to scuttle the Colombia free trade agreement. They title their editorial:
Drop Dead, Colombia
Democratic Speaker Nancy Pelosi blocks a trade deal with America's closest South American ally.
That's exactly what she's doing by using procedural maneuvers to keep from scheduling a vote within 90 days as required by fast track authority. She claims that they need more debate and investigation - something they could have been doing all along while stalling negotiations with the White House about scheduling the bill. It's all a stall to prevent a vote. She's clearly afraid that if the agreement came up for a vote it would pass. She knows that there are some Democrats who would vote for it. So she has to bow to the AFL-CIO and block the vote. As the Post says,


"I take this action with deep respect to the people of Colombia and will be sure that any message they receive is one of respect for their country, and the importance of the friendship between our two countries," Ms. Pelosi protested yesterday. Perhaps Colombia's government and people will understand. We don't.
How the Democratic Party has lost its way. I'm just beginning to study John F. Kennedy's administration and one of the points of his New Frontier was lowering tariffs. One of Bill Clinton's claims to being a New Democrat was his support for free trade. The Democrats today now are closer to 19th century Republicans supporting tariffs than their incarnation at the end of 20th century. As the WSJ writes today,