Under the circumstances, this is about as far out on the limb as Clinton may be able to crawl. It may not seem like much, but it's a lot more of a break than Obama wanted. The administration was hoping for her support, thinking it would push some Democrats off the fence and into the president's win column. Via CNN:
Hillary Clinton took aim Tuesday at two core components of a massive free trade pact that President Barack Obama is negotiating — signaling some agreement with the deal's liberal critics.
The Democratic front-runner in the 2016 presidential race said she wants to see rules included in the Trans-Pacific Partnership that would penalize countries for driving down the value of their currencies in order to give their exports a price advantage in the U.S. market.
And she said she's concerned about a provision that would give "corporations more power to overturn health and environmental and labor rules than consumers have."
"I think that is a problem," Clinton said during a roundtable event in Iowa, when one woman participating in the event asked her about the deal.
It's as close to staking out a clear position on the trade deal that Clinton has come — though she left wiggle room Tuesday.
"I want to judge the final agreement. I have been for trade agreements; I have been against trade agreements," she said.
