President Obama’s failure on trade legislation Friday was a stark personal and political rebuke that came after he lobbied House Democrats face-to-face twice within 24 hours before the vote.
Mr. Obama put his political clout on the line to an usual degree, first by making an unscheduled visit to lawmakers who were playing in the annual congressional baseball game at Nationals Park Thursday night, then by visiting House Democrats on Capitol Hill Friday morning.
It was an all-out lobbying effort for a president who doesn’t enjoy twisting arms. And it failed badly, with the key vote on trade assistance losing by 302 to 126.
Rep. Brendan Boyle, Pennsylvania Democrat and a freshman lawmaker, voted against the trade legislation package after listening to the president’s personal plea.
“Obama was passionate & eloquent speaking to us for 30 mins,” Mr. Boyle tweeted after the meeting. “He clearly cares about workers. But he’s just wrong about #TPA and #FastTrack.”
Mr. Obama seemed uncertain about the prospects for the trade package when he emerged from the meeting with fellow Democrats at the Capitol.
“I don’t think you ever nail anything down around here,” the president told reporters. “It’s always moving.”
The president is trying to gain approval for the massive Trans Pacific Partnership, a free-trade agreement that is the key economic initiative of his second term.
In a statement after the defeat, Mr. Obama blamed Republicans and Democrats for voting against trade assistance, saying “inaction will directly hurt about 100,000 workers and their communities annually if those members of Congress don’t reconsider.”
The president focused most of his statement on the majority vote in favor of trade-promotion authority, calling it “a good thing” even though the overall trade package failed.
“These kinds of [free-trade] agreements make sure that the global economy’s rules aren’t written by countries like China; they’re written by the United States of America,” Mr. Obama said. “And to stand in their way is to do nothing but preserve the long-term status quo for American workers, and make it even harder for them to succeed.”
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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