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Fast Track Vote a Good Way to Rate Dems
by John Nichols
August 7, 2002
Madison Capital Times
In barely 18 months, the identity of the Democratic
challenger to President George W. Bush's 2004 re-
election will have been determined. Democratic National
Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe's front-loading of
the nominating process all but assures that the fight
will be over before activists within the party and on
its fringes have a chance to consider the candidates.
Thus, Americans who believe that the Democratic Party
ought to offer a choice rather than an echo of the Bush
administration's voodoo economics ought to begin
examining their options now. Fortunately, the recent
congressional votes on granting the Bush administration
"fast track" authority to enter into secret
negotiations toward the development of a sweeping Free
Trade Area of the Americas offer a good place to begin
the analysis.
This summer's fast track votes in the House and Senate
presented congressional Democrats - a staggering number
of whom are pondering presidential candidacies - with
some stark choices. They could side with the Bush
administration, multinational business interests and
the Washington "think tanks" that are willing to go to
war to defend American democracy and values - unless,
of course, that democracy and those values pose a
hindrance to nation-hopping corporations. Or they could
side with the trade unions, environmental groups, farm
organizations, consumer groups, churches and
international human rights campaigners that represent
the activist base not just of the Democratic Party but
of the nation as a whole.
In the House, where fast track passed by an agonizingly
narrow 215-212 margin, Minority Leader Dick Gephardt,
D-Mo., did not merely oppose fast track, he helped
coordinate the opposition. Of the 212 votes against
fast track, 183 came from the Democratic caucus.
Two other House members who are considering Democratic
presidential runs, Dennis Kucinich and Marcy Kaptur,
both of Ohio, were in the forefront of opposition to
the legislation.
Kucinich, the Congressional Progressive Caucus chairman
who is perhaps best known among progressives around the
country for his outspoken criticism of the Bush
administration's military policies, combined hometown
concern for factory workers in the Cleveland area with
a sophisticated analysis of international human rights
and development issues to offer some of the most
thoughtful criticism of the corporate free trade
agenda. (Kucinich's "Action Center" on his
congressional home page at
www.house.gov/kucinich/action/trade.htm explains fast
track and related issues and provides links to Public
Citizen's Global Trade Watch, Friends of the Earth, the
Economic Policy Institute and unions that have battled
the corporate agenda on trade policy.)
Kaptur delivered the best speech during the House's
fast track debate. An expert on trade policy who has
battled the corporate agenda for two decades, Kaptur
spoke with the confidence of someone who knew that what
the Bush administration was asking for was wrong. Yes,
of course, she said, passing fast track would begin a
process that would cost Americans jobs and farms. But
the damage to the developing world would be worse, she
explained, describing a future for the poorest of the
poor that would be defined by "corporate slums and
global plantations with penny-wage jobs."
What of the Senate, where fast track won a 64-34
endorsement? Though that chamber is thick with
Democratic presidential timber, few of Bush's
prospective challengers stood tall. Senate Majority
Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota conspired with
corporate Democrat Max Baucus of Montana to spring a
surprise vote on the eve of Congress' summer break.
Daschle whipped Democrats to back the Bush agenda on
trade, voted for fast track and then joined in a
grotesque celebration of the victory with Baucus.
Connecticut's Joe Lieberman, the party's 2000 vice
presidential nominee, was an outspoken supporter of the
legislation. Joining Lieberman and Daschle in backing
fast track was Massachusetts' John Kerry. Delaware's
Joe Biden voted against fast track, but cast procedural
votes that aided Daschle's push for the legislation.
Indeed, of Senate Democrats who have been mentioned as
potential presidential contenders, only three stood
consistently in opposition to the Bush trade agenda:
Wisconsin's Russ Feingold, the Senate's most thoughtful
foe of the corporate free-trade agenda; Connecticut's
Chris Dodd, a friend of labor with a long interest in
human rights issues; and, to the surprise of many who
recall her role in a previous administration that
fought for fast track, New York's Hillary Clinton.
As for the likely front-runner for the 2004 nomination,
Al Gore wrote an op-ed in Sunday's New York Times in
which he condemned the Bush administration's failings
and called for Democrats to stand tough against
corporate power. Amazingly, however, Gore's article
made no mention of fast track or the trade debate.
Copyright 2002 The Capital Times
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