President Barack Obama is in a fierce debate, most notably with Senator Elizabeth Warren, regarding the Trans Pacific Partnership.
As a free trade advocate, I'd like to be able to take the President's side on this. And indeed, some of what he says has great appeal to me (for example, I like the idea of using trade liberalization as an incentive for global action on climate change, human rights, workers rights, etc.)
But here's my problem - I don't know what's in the TPP (absent some very technical language on dispute resolution.) President Obama's argument seems to be "Trust me."
But we should not have to trust any public official - we should be able to see what he is proposing.
With regard to TPP we don't have a chance to see it for ourselves and apparently won't have such a chance.
It's possible, even likely, that the President will gather enough Dem votes to join a solid bloc of GOP votes and get approval for fast tracking TPP. But I don't see how he can truly persuade anyone on the substance of TPP without, you know, letting us see the substance.
If I had a vote, it would have to be No on TPP - because I don't know what is in it.